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First for blight scale domestication.

>>3602494
For House and Dominion! Salvaging Pocket Dimensions! And maybe getting the Krath to keep quiet for a while longer when we break news we've found proto-Krath?

For House & Dominion!

>>3602494
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

While that has been happening you've transferred back to the Outer Heaven, setting course for Threochts planet, your primary objective. The planet has proven to have an odd sensor return as anticipated. According to records a facility at the north pole was destroyed in an earthquake centuries ago. Tracking down 2 contacts at the equator your people tunneled down to the more promising of the 2.

Buried deep underground were the remains of science laboratories and a transport chamber made up of a rotating subspace gate. This allowed you and your teams access to the interior of the planet. Held out of phase with real space, and occupying the same place as the planet's interior is a spherical habitable environment. The interior is illuminated by the ghostly glow of the planet's iron core, or perhaps its magnetic field.

"We're just being held here in another state or level of reality, another dimension I suppose." explains Ten Zohn, the Rekesh scientist who helped your people find the gate.

"So the planet isn't hollow?" you ask to be sure.

"Of course not, that would be silly. If these geothermal spikes or whatever's generating the spherical field that's allowing us to remain here were to fail we'd be killed instantly."

Exploration teams have established an outpost in the interior and begun to transfer repulsor vehicles, equipment and personnel. You've ordered the assembly of a starship grade sensor array and a shuttle, though this will take time given the size of the gate.

After your initial find you reported to the Emperor and asked for Dominion reinforcements. These will be sent though not necessarily quickly or in large numbers. Fleet units and warships in need of repair will be directed to the stations you've captured or established. At least one Dominion Super Heavy in need of repairs should be on the way.

Returning to the interior once again you explored the surrounding area, finding primitive Rekesh settlements. With the assistance of Rekesh military personnel to act as temporary translators you found out that the Rekesh scientist Threocht found his way inside some time before his supposed disappearance. In the process of exploring the interior and its technology he uplifted the previously primitive inhabitants while advancing the science of his own people. It wasn't to last.

Supposedly because of tampering with builder technology Threocht unleashed a life form into the interior. Called blight scales and scale mothers, these creatures laid waste to civilization and were only barely stopped. Threocht and much of his followers died, either in stopping the threat or its aftermath.

A Rovinar scientist with the sphere foundation by the name of Akyarres suggested the possibility that the blight scales may be proto-Krath. Following recovery of several blight scale corpses this has apparently been confirmed. Your Krath team members, Estavan Risto and Jan Novák are convinced the Rovinar is hiding something. After the two confronted him about it this was largely confirmed, though what he knows about the Krath remains to be seen.

As you are currently headed for the south pole in the hopes of finding one of Threochts descendants Akyarres will be held for questioning until your return. That could take some time as the south pole is not a short distance away even using powerful repulsor bikes.

On the way there the outpost contacts you reporting that engineers have managed to complete the sensor array.

"Begin with passive scans of the Sun-core-center-region, whatever the hell it is. Focus on that first." are your orders.

Closing in on the south pole Ten Zohn hurriedly tries to contact you once more.

"We've picked up some odd readings trying to scan the core. Orbital scans by starships simply couldn't penetrate the edges of the sphere within the planet. This is different. With the core the background scattering off it isn't just being blocked, it seems to be strongly reflecting it. Energetically so. I dont recommend active scans, it may be reflected back at us with enough intensity to burn out the array."

"Any immediately useful data?" you ask, hopeful that they at least saw something.
"There may be structures. We think they're aimed at other facilities located at the equator."
"Directly above our entrance?"
"No, at 90 degrees to it."

[ ] Hold off scanning anything else for now
[ ] Continue passive scans of interior
[ ] Other?

>>3602605
>[ ] Continue passive scans of interior

>>3602605
>[x] Continue passive scans of interior

>>3602605
>[ ] Continue passive scans of interior

Unless these sensors can tell us where other proto-Krath are located. Probably best not to go into active scanning just yet. Still somewhat paranoid that there is some sort of mechanisim that will activate if it detects technology of sufficent level. Reasoning being those damaged gates, someone or something had to destroy them.

>>3602605
>[ ] Continue passive scans of interior

"Continue passive scans of the interior. The last thing I want is to set off a countermeasure of some kind. For all we know that's what Threocht did."

Ten Zohn promises to be careful.

You've now closing in on the south pole of this places interior. The Tower that you thought you could make out before is rapidly solidifying into a tall narrow structure. As details start to become visible you order everyone to reduce speed.

"Keep us pointed so that we're not aimed straight for it. I dont want to set off any point defenses."
"Yes sir!"

Keeping the sensors on the bikes and armor on passive you try to figure to size of it. A quick guess puts it around 6km in height or more. Aside from whatever is around the base there are no other cities or villages near it for more than 100km. There do seem to be a number of shorter squat projections or towers connected to it near the base. When you get closer you also see there are open fields immediately surrounding it.

"Keep slowing us down. Watch for signs of weapons, landing pads, anything useful."

Veur points out one of the structures attached to one side of the main tower.
"That is a matter siphon."

"A siphon or a shunt?" asks Sam. "I remember reading those were related."
"It's possible it could be both."

You look closer, spotting what looks like a thick wheel shaped device that stops and rotates every few seconds.
"Do I want to know what either of those do?"

"Its possible it could be drawing matter from real space." The Caretaker explains.
"I would guess they have a builder manufacturing system connected to it."

"So they could have all sorts of toys. Got it. Let's set down a safe distance away, unfurl the flags and see if we get any response. Tu Quedis please see if you can raise anyone by radio or whatever standard communications channels were used by your people when this planet was settled."

There are no visible landing pads but a couple of roads are spotted. They're a bit muddy which everyone wearing power armor is not thrilled about.

"No response on radio." reports the liaison officer.

"These roads have to lead somewhere at the base of that tower." reasons one of the Knights.

[ ] Approach on foot
[ ] Approach on bike, low speed, ground level
[ ] Circle at altitude
[ ] Fire a flare or tracer round
[ ] Other ideas?

>>3602896
>[ ] Other ideas?
>No response on radio
It's a sphere builder facility, maybe try sphere builder contact protocol? I'm sure our Neeran know know what frequency or device to use. Maybe they brought something useful.

>>3602896
>[ ] Approach on bike, low speed, ground level

Also what >>3602902 anon suggested about trying sphere builder contact protocol's. Our Neeran peeps might know of other means of contacting people inside such facilities.

>>3602896
>[ ] Circle at altitude

>>3602896
>[ ] Approach on bike, low speed, ground level

>>3602896
>Veur points out one of the structures attached to one side of the main tower.
>"That is a matter siphon."

>"A siphon or a shunt?" asks Sam. "I remember reading those were related."
>"It's possible it could be both."

>You look closer, spotting what looks like a thick wheel shaped device that stops and rotates every few seconds.
>"Do I want to know what either of those do?"

>"Its possible it could be drawing matter from real space." The Caretaker explains.
>"I would guess they have a builder manufacturing system connected to it."

A matter siphon? I am suddenly inspired to see if this technology can be used to mine matter from stars or black holes from a distance. Have one side of your device be a ‘gate’ outside the star in a station or some such. And have the inside of it be a small remote facility that starts harvesting matter from the star or black hole. Converting it to useable material which we can use for a whole bunch of other stuff. Sure this is a complicated idea just to get some matter out of a star. But we could end up making stellar harvesters, once we figure out the tech behind mega structures.

>>3602896
>"That is a matter siphon."
>"I would guess they have a builder manufacturing system connected to it."
Yuuuupp. That has Sonias name on it.

[ ] Approach on bike, low speed, ground level

"Veod, is there any contact protocol for Caretakers? Ranged mind beams or others that you can try?"
"Give me a moment."
The Caretaker concentrates.

The rest of you sit patiently, though you do make plans to move in at low speed on the bikes. Following the road should be the least belligerent option.

Veod's gaze snaps towards one of the outer towers. Sam immediately looks concerned.
"What's wrong?"
"I believe I have alerted someone to our presence. I do not know if others present in the tower will understand. They are... doing things."
"Elaborate?"
"I believe they are attempting to do the same thing that we are with some of the humans on the sphere. Engineer a Caretaker. I suspect they are taking shortcuts."

"Are they going to be unhappy with our arrival?"
"I dont know, though the one who was able to detect my signal seemed agitated."

To you that's rarely good news.

The bikes move along, slowly closing in on the tower. Closer to its base the road ends, replaced by a wide gravel like surface. There are structures of more primitive manufacture scattered around the base of the builder complex and you can see locals moving about. All eyes are soon on your group.

"Everyone but the drivers dismount. Keep the bikes close and be ready for a hasty exit."

Tu Quedis removes his helmet and gets ready to play diplomat again. Before long two soldiers equipped with armor similar in many respects to your own appear. They're armed with staff weapons similar to others you've seen here though they've had additional modifications to look more like spears.

The translator picks up a variation of one dialect used by a few Keepers you met with. They demand that you identify yourselves and ask which of the neighbouring lords gave your group permission to enter their territory.

The liaison officer gets the impression that they're used to kicking out trespassers and this is routine, regardless of what they look like.

"They're used to kicking out enormous Neeran?"
"I do not know. It could be they feel very secure in their position given their equipment. Apparently there is a process where documentation must be sent ahead before they allow anyone entry to their land. It deters the minor pests and gives them the right to treat anyone not following their regulations as they want."

Veod places a hand on your shoulder and you can hear his voice echoing in your head.
"I dont usually resort to a heavy handed approach but I suspect they might be startled by finding themselves in the air."

Glancing around first you notice that Valeri is absent. Or more accurately invisible.

[ ] "Our wizards are here to see your wizard."
[ ] Let the Caretaker give the over-equipped mall cops a lift
[ ] "Valeri, disarm them"
[ ] Other?

>>3603273
>[ ] "Our wizards are here to see your wizard."
>[ ] Let the Caretaker give the over-equipped mall cops a lift

It may not be the best approach... But god dammit would it be hilarious!

>>3603273
>[ ] "Our wizards are here to see your wizard."
>[ ] Let the Caretaker give the over-equipped mall cops a lift

If they need a demonstration of proof then have Veod lift the least threatening one of their group up. Or have him lift Sonia or anyone from our team up.

>>3603273
[ ] Let the Caretaker give the over-equipped mall cops a lift

You give the Caretaker permission to go ahead. Soon enough both of the soldiers rise into the air to startled shouts. They dont appear to be failing around as much as you might have expected but then that might be intentional. They cant bring their staff weapons to bear like this.

Stepping forward you inform them; "Our wizards are here to see your wizard."

They seem to be taking this seriously.
Tu Quedis is quick to add that if they promise not to raise their weapons against the party they will be allowed down. It isn't long before both of them are back on the ground and fleeing towards what must be the entrance.

Following at a slow sedate pace everyone keeps and eye out for reinforcements or other threats. While moving cautiously past significantly lower tech buildings Tu Quedis says hello to locals, giving them reassurance that they're not here to cause trouble.

When more soldiers appear they do so in number, but less than you might have expected. Two dozen take up positions clearing a path to keep locals back. A Rekesh woman in a billowing cape bearing a staff weapon closer to those from the sphere is escorted out to see you. Once she gets closer you see that her own armor has been augmented with additional artifacts.

"I am the Lady Af Ied. I do not know who you are but no one is permitted to see my grandfather. He will not allow it, or anything else that threatens to disturb his research. If you have business here it will be discussed with me."

Well that's one way to get a direct line to the leadership. You dont need Veod's silent warning to know that this woman is dangerous. How do you plan to approach this?

>What say?

>>3603525

"We're travelers from another world. Same as your great grandfather. We've come to learn more about this place you call home. And what your great grandfather did that caught the attraction of the Blightscales and Scalemothers. So that we can avoid doing the same while exploring the rest of this fascinating place. Also, if possible, to collect items and relics to bring back to our world to study."

Forward and upfront with them. Of course if other anons have their own spin or means to get the idea across. If she asks for proof, well we can of course remove our helmets again if necessary or ask Veod or Sam to reveal themselves.

>>3603566
+1

I'll try to finish the next post before work in the morning, if not resuming in the afternoon.

>>3603566
+1

Though if there is support, perhaps we should mention that we just aided this planet in liberating itself from the Neeran Empire.

Hopefully word of the Neeran was passed down the family line.

>>3603525
I think we should introduce ourselves. If she thinks it's necessary to mention her title, we should do so as well.
"It's an honor Lady Af Ied, and I would like to thank you for meeting us. I am Sonia Reynard, Viscount of Rioja."

>>3604240
It probably wouldn't hurt, considering Threocht hid here mainly because of the Empire.

>>3603566
I'm okay with this too.

>>3603525
Introduce ourselves and our team.
Explain that we're explorers? I mean, we need to get access to the polar regions to secure the place, how else are we going to start salvaging this place?

Jesus my head.
Decided to take a "quick nap" after work because was up early. Suddenly I'm in a 40k penance crusade or some shit and we end up retaking an ork controlled world, somehow. My dudes ended up with a shit ton of dark eldar looking jetbikes supporting Knights. The Knights were sort of doing leapfrog tactics, except it ended up looking more like they were making tabletop turn based moves.
I dont even play tabletop 40k!
Also we had to go rescue maybe part of Emps psyche? Shit got weird fast.

Anyways back to writing.

"It's an honor to meet you Lady Af Ied, thank you for meeting us. I am Sonia Reynard, Viscount of Rioja.
We're travelers from another world, the same as your great grandfather. We've come to learn more about this place you call home.

We've learned from others that whatever your ancestor did caused the attraction of the Blightscales and Scalemothers. Hopefully by learning from you we can avoid doing the same while exploring the rest of this fascinating place. Also, if possible, our expedition hopes to collect items and relics to bring back to our world to study."

Lady Af Ied tilts her head slightly as though examining some of you more closely or perhaps listening to a translator in greater detail. Eventually she asks;
"And you speak for all of your people?"

You look to Tu Quedis who speaks up.
"The Rekesh government and space fleets have agreed to work with Viscount Reynard in return for assistance against other threats and recognition of our sovereignty."
"We helped liberate them from the Neeran Empire."

"You drove away the bringers of fire and light?" questions the other woman.
"We did."

The liason officer doesn't like where this is going and attempts to explain that the Empire had become corrupt though he is cut off by the Lady.
"Good. My ancestors did not trust their promises and offers. It does us well to be rid of them."

Next she looks to the Caretakers.
"I can see through the guise you lay upon yourselves. I know what you are, you can not trick me. Your kind are the ones she would claim to have drive off." the Lady gestures to you.

It is Veod's turn to reply.
"The Caretakers, and later the Isolationists, split from what would later become the Empire many thousands of years ago. Long before their first contact with your people. It is the duty of the Caretakers to protect an installation much like this one in appearance, only much larger. Rather than containing the living area of one world it houses millions of worlds.
The Empire recently attempted to capture it and so we have aided those fighting against them."

Pacing back and forth the Lady studies Veod for a number of seconds.
"You are not the Caretakers." she finally proclaims, directing the statement at the elder warrior.

Veod remains calm.
"We were not the first, but we are the current caretakers of the sphere."
"You can speak to them then?"
"We have, but not in tens of thousands of years."

Lady Af Ied looks over your group once again then sighs. (Or that's what your translator thinks it is.)

"It seems you will have to speak to my grandfather. This... I do not look forward to this conversation. All of you will come with me, your vehicles will be parked inside. Guards will make certain they are not disturbed."

Alerting the outpost you let them know you've made contact with the inhabitants of the tower and will see about discussing matters with them. Given the tower looks to be made out of builder material you may lose coms.

>Leave anyone with the vehicles?

>>3605239
>>Leave anyone with the vehicles?
I think they'll be fine alone. Do they have a 'come get us' function? We press a button and they autopilot to our location?

>>3605239
>>Leave anyone with the vehicles?

Is anyone volunteering to stay behind? Maybe just to observe the locals and culture while we talk? If not, lets head inside and see what this wizard has to say.

>>3605247
The immortal on your team reports that they do have that function but the pathfinding on them is kind of hit and miss. Meant more for operating out in the open rather than inside structures. Upgrading that functionality was always considered a low priority compared to things like boosting range and efficiency for the expedition.

>>3605251
No one is in a hurry to volunteer. It seems they'd much rather see what's happening.

Did you have any questions for your hosts?

>>3605239
If they steal them I think we may have bigger problems on our hands. I wonder how we are going to be able to get our hands on the manufacturer system they got. Besides killing them and taking it from them that is.

>>3605272

>Questions

With the Neeran Empire gone, do they want to come out of this subspace zone and see the space again?

Since this facility is a Sphere Builder facility, and the Alliance kinda has a thing for wanting to make sure this tech is well monitored. What would be some things they would like the Alliance to observe or assist with. When the Alliance inevitably learns of this place.

When the Krath Government learns of the Proto-Krath. Would they be willing to let the Krath Government come in and "Domesticate" the proto-Krath or relocate them out/ away from here?

Do they need assistance with whatever project they are working on? If they are working on making Caretakers like the Caretaker Neeran are and are going about it using shortcuts. It might be best to have their wizard talk to the Sphere wizards. So that no abomination are created on accident.

Would they be interested in trade of technology. So that their people here can have easier lives and face less hardships, especially in the northern territories where they encounter the blight scales.

What is with the facility in the center of this place?

Just a few quick thoughts that come to mind.

>>3605239
>Leave anyone with the vehicles?
Any volunteers? If not just let them be

>>3605272
Where do they get their Artifacts from? Or how do they make them? Just need conformation about the Manufacturer system.


Do they know about where the Proto-Krath came from? Or where anyone else came from at that? Hint hint, other Gates in the area.

What exactly did the Bringers of Fire and Light do?

>>3605320
>When the Alliance inevitably learns of this place.

I thought we captured this place with the Rekesh just for the purpose of denying them it and so that they can't have it as we got a fleet in orbit protecting it? Especially since the Rekesh have not written any agreements with the FA about Builder tech.

>>3605342

Yes, but it will inevitablly be turned over to joint control to the FA and the Sphere Foundation. The Dominion does have a solid claim, but it wont risk alienating the other factions over this one facility. Not while the Empire Neeran are at large. And the other Factions and the Dominion bartering/ working with the Sphere Neeran on a deal for repairs to the Sphere caused by the Empire Neeran.

>>3605398
I do not agree with this sentiment on any level what so ever. Especially in light of the Neeran Empire breathing it's last breaths.

>>3605398

We're attempting to deny the FA & Sphere Foundation control as long as possible, so we likely shouldn't pave the way for them to come take over.

>>3605418

I'm sure the Emperor will put on a show of it. But any one faction having near unlimited access to a Sphere Builder facility would greatly tip the balance. And make the other factions worried about them taking power.

It would be nice to have unlimited access for the Dominion to here. And as you pointed out, we made an agreement with the Rekesh to have access to this place. So we will likely be able to return here whenever we want after the Neeran Empire is defeated.

But the thing is the Dominion is still playing catch up, and no one wants to be the cause of the next Faction Wars. Sure the distance between the Dominion and everyone else is closing but its still there.Not that the Terrans seem bothered by sending black ops covert ops whatever to meddle in Dominion matters as we saw so recently.

>>3605442

Did what I type really sound that much like signing over access to this facility to the FA? Because I really didn't want to lay the groundwork for them. I was just curious what they would require of them.

>>3605454
> And make the other factions worried about them taking power.
That is already a thing since years before. Literally all Factions do not want a Dominion Resurgent as they know what they can do. And I highly HIGHLY doubt the Emperor sent us here just for show. It makes NO sense what so ever to invest time and resources in taking these worlds. For him to send reinforcement that could be used to hunt SP tech to us to help hold the world. To have the Baron set up door protection on the Gate if not for the reason of holding this place. Disregarding that. The balance is already tipped. The only thing the Terrans have that is superior to the Dominion is SP tech. And soon not even that. Giving up this place is not going to change that in any way beside making the Dominion overrall weaker.

>So we will likely be able to return here whenever we want after the Neeran Empire is defeated.
Well we aren't exactly leaving. There are already hundreds of thousands of ships out there fighting the Empire. Our goal is to secure this place for the Dominion.

>But the thing is the Dominion is still playing catch up
Is it? We got high level shipyards. As advanced as any we've ever seen. Ever. We got Dominion made mobile fortresses. Our own Supers. Modern top of the line Cruisers, Corvettes, Battleships, Heavy Cruisers,Medium Cruisers, Fights, Armour, Small Arms and more. We got tech NO other faction has and some tech which only one other faction has. Tech wise we're basically right up there with everyone else. We even got Plasma Corvettes for crying out loud.

We have a numerous, strong and well motivated army who are all veterans basically and a strong economy.

>and no one wants to be the cause of the next Faction Wars
I sadly don't think that can be avoided unless the Dominion show it has overwhelming superiority. Which is why we are getting the Builder Tech. Terrans wont just stand by and let us develop SP tech and them keeping us from doing it is basically an act of war.

>Did what I type really sound that much like signing over access to this facility to the FA?
Honestly? Yes. It sounded to me like you wanted to basically give this place up after we've worked so hard to obtain based on the Emperor being spineless and unable to either enforce our claim or unwilling to do so. Despite what we've previously seen in this quest.

I just want to make the Dominion great again. So great that the others wont attack and Sonia can retire eventually with her newly created Explorers Guild and go explore shit for the rest of her immortal life.

>>3605454
>curious what they would require of them

Establishing requirements for each party is the first concrete step for getting a deal going.


Our best course of action is to focus upon Wizard - Dominion/Rekesh dealings and force the Sphere Foundation to start their own takeover talks from scratch. It also has the benefit of not causing our host to ask why they should deal with us instead of the sphere foundation.

>>3605509
>make the Dominion great again

House Reynard & the Order of Sonia Clones when?

>>3605509

I still think the Dominion is playing catch up compared to the other Factions. Since they all seem to have all the nice toys. That I don't see how close or ahead we are compared to them.

>>3605515

So then should it be worded, "What can the Dominion do, to help them with this facility. In observing and maintaining it." ?

I apologize, I didn't realize it sounded that bad. I don't suppose it's to late for fix TSTG?

Led into the interior and parking the bikes the group follows its host and escort. Halls with high ceilings are well lit, everywhere you look the structure is made of the nigh impenetrable builder material. There are some decorations, though you dont really have time to take them in.

Eventually you reach a vertically aligned transit gate similar to the damaged one your people found near the entrance chamber. As anticipated it works just like the long range transit systems on the sphere. They dont take nearly so long to activate though. Probably because they're not sending people hundreds of thousands of kilometers with each hop. The lift can only move a portion of your party at a time so its necessary to wait for the rest.

"If you dont mind my asking, what exactly did the Bringers of Fire and Light do?"
"My illustrious ancestor Threocht fled his homeland searching for a world where he could conduct experiments without worry of the Tribal councils and the manipulations of those you speak of. Their administrators remained largely in the capital and did not visit outlying worlds. In the provinces he could toil in obscurity.
The tribal leaders made attempts to have him recalled to the capital where he might have been taken to aid our supposed benefactors. They couldn't publicly force him to return but eventually it became too dangerous to remain outside."

"With the Neeran Empire gone, will your people want to leave and live on the surface again? See other worlds?"
"Some might, I do not. We are heirs to all of the powerful technology in this place. None will take that duty from us."

That could be problematic. Deciding to keep moving on you ask another question.
"You certainly have more artifact weapons than anyone else around here. Where do you get so many? Or how do they make them?"

"We are gifted with the means to manufacture more. Many more. Enough to repel any assault by whoever might be foolish enough to take these treasures from us. We have weapons that might render even your armor useless." she boasts.

You cant tell if she's being genuine or just posturing. Going for a different tactic you point skyward.

"What is with the facility in the center of this place?"
"In the center?"
"The core. That thing in the sky that emits light."

>Cont.

Now the Lady seems to look worried.
"Your people have not attempted to approach it have they?"
"No. We noticed it has an odd reflection on sensors."
"You tried to look at it?"

Lady Af Ied signals one of the other guards to stay with you.
"I apologize but I must see my grandfather immediately."
The woman turns and heads off down a side corridor as quickly as decorum probably allows. The guards lead you to another area that seems to be a meeting hall. A few minutes later servants arrive with refreshments.

Tu Quedis checks and assures you they're safe, though your people can only have certain things.

After a good 20 minute wait there is a disturbance. It feels like the entire tower shook. Sam and Veod inform you that someone in the tower seems to be rather displeased.
"How displeased?"
"I could have swore I felt an outraged sounding "WHAT!?" echo through the halls." replies Sam.

With a response like that you expected to be talking to someone rather soon. It's still another ten minutes before the Lady appears along with an ancient looking Rekesh bedecked in all manner of artifacts and armor. Before anyone can make polite introductions the old man begins shouting.

"You fools, you've brought a sensor array into this place. Turn it off immediately!"

[ ] Contact base camp, shut it down
[ ] Insist on polite introductions first
[ ] Refuse

>>3605796
>"You fools, you've brought a sensor array into this place. Turn it off immediately!"

I guess that means there *IS* a defense system or a system of some sorts preventing the people inside from advancing to a certain technological point? Or at least in place to prevent people from being to nosey into certain things being kept secret.

Well at least we have contact with the wizard in question.

>>3605796

[x] Contact base camp, shut it down

[x] Base camp on combat alert.

The damned blight scales can sense the energy of a sensor array, can't they.

Scientists are literally only trouble in sphere tech facilities...

>>3605997
Support

"Reynard to base camp, power down the sensor array until further notice."
You look between the two of them.
"Can our communications get through the structure of the tower?"

"In this room yes." answers Af Ied

A few seconds later you get a response that the array is being powered down.
"Good. Assume defensive positions until I get back."

Looking back to your hosts you of course ask why you've just had the sensor array shut down.
"Is it because the blight scales are attracted to it?"

"No. At best it will trigger the first layer of defenses." replies the Wizard. "You'd subject the entire world to a catastrophic energy drain. Your vehicles and equipment would be stranded soon enough. It would also disrupt my own research for months until I could reset it."

Good news, bad news. At least he knows how to disable it.

Introductions are made. The old Wizard goes by the name of Tereoct and, as you had heard, is the grandson of Threocht. He is much older than any Rekesh should be, being more than a century older than the longest lived on record at the very least.

"I will not allow myself to die while my work remains unfinished."

"Combating the blight scales or engineering your own caretaker?"

The wizard does not answer at first and Veod speaks up, explaining how the sphere caretakers were able to communicate with them and pass on instructions. Also that he can tell someone in the tower is bordering on the perceptions necessary to do so.

"It is good to have confirmation it is working. Yes, we hope to allow our people to interface more freely with the technology of this place. Some of it can be done with the help of machines to learn how to use basic devices more easily. That is enough for our soldiers to learn how to use their staff within a matter of days rather than the years of half guessing it might take."

"Memory transfer?" you question.
"Indeed. That is not enough to master this place. There are signs some of the first caretakers may have placed themselves in stasis. My grandfather hoped to find them or more of their technology when he opened the east hemisphere gate. He may even have found some but if they were there neither side understood at the time."
"Understood what?"
"Old Caretakers may have sealed themselves inside the east gate to help keep a prison shut."

"The Blight Scales were in there I take it?"
"Beasts! Beasts the size of starships. I dont care what the northerners call them."

"So they were inside this other gate?" asks Tu Quedis.
"They were inside the blasted core. The east and west gates do not lead outside the world like the others, they connect to whatever was hidden in there. Threocht translated it to mean vessel or cauldron. Clearly he was wrong. We only managed to seal the east gate by teleporting a geothermal spike into the center of the mechanism."

Your party mulls over that news for a moment before pressing on to the matter of the remaining blight scales.

>Cont.

"We have reason to believe that the blight scales are capable of intelligence."

This claim is met with a healthy amount of disbelief by the locals. The Wizard shakes his head.
"They can be clever at times, even adaptable, but they lack any true intelligence."

"There is a species called the Krath. They're shape shifters. They can change their form rather considerably. Would you be willing to allow us the attempt to domesticate them?"

"I would prefer them all dead." states the Lady. "Protecting the north against this is a constant battle. Thousands die to them when swarms escape the northern cordons. People are constantly begging us for aid in driving them back. Too many to help all of them."

"What if we could relocate them?" you ask. "We domesticate them and then relocate out of here."

"You would be unleashing a plague on other worlds." Af Ied protests.
The wizard raises a hand to silence his granddaughter.
"You could do this? There are probably millions."

>What say?

>>3606423

If anons are okay with this:

If there is anyone in this universe that has the means to rapidly bring enough forces and knowledge on how to tame or bring in/ take down other Krath. It’s the Krath. We could suggest bringing them in on this. Of course, this would make the Krath aware of what’s going on down here. But we could maybe convince the Krath to keep quiet about this long enough that they can recover a few of their own proto-Krath kin without our or Alliance supervision. If they will ignore our digging around inside here for loot. No idea if they would go for this. But the Krath are right outside the door and it would just take a call to get them in and working on the proto-Krath problem.

“Not instantly and not all at once. We do have technology to put a few in stasis and transfer them out. But that’s inefficient and time consuming.

Those Krath I told you about. They have their own space empire of sorts. If anyone were to have the means to capture and domesticate their own kind and move them out rapidly. They would certainly be the ones most capable. If not most willing to see to recovering their distant cousins…?

Of course I’m not telling you to not defend yourselves or your people. You’ve been dealing with the things for several generations. And have been holding on at great cost. Just for your permission to send in our Krath to see if it is possible to domesticate them and remove them from this place.”

>>3606466

Also, we would make sure to get our own profit out of getting them in contact with our Krath. Or if they turn us down, we can offer to wipe out a few dozen swarms of the things for payment. Just be more humane to try and remove them.

>>3606423

I feel like we -really- need to talk to the Rovinar about planet-ending Krath fuckups before we even consider the possibility of doing jack squat with these Blight Scales.

Generally, you put things in crazy subspace containment prisons for a reason. Usually because they shouldn't exist outside of said crazy subspace containment prisons.


And are we going to -invite- the krath to access this place and potentially give up a monopoly on access with the Rekesh? Crazy!

>>3606419
>We only managed to seal the east gate by teleporting a geothermal spike into the center of the mechanism
How many of them were there? And the northerners claim these gigantic creatures were intelligent. Why was it not possible to reach an agreement with them? Does he know why these things were sealed in the core?

>There are signs some of the first caretakers may have placed themselves in stasis
Did any other species come after them in this place before the Rekesh arrived?

>He is much older than any Rekesh should be, being more than a century older than the longest lived on record at the very least.
Is he using a regeneration artifact for that or did he find another way?

>>3606423
"It depends on factors largely beyond my control as most of the important work would have to be done by a very reclusive species but in theory it should be possible ."

I think we should have kept the sensor array working just to slow this guy down. If he successfully manufactures a caretaker race for this place, they'll probably want us gone and not 'salvaging' any cool items from this place. It's already going to be a pain with all these artifact weapon users, and I don't think Sonia is the kind to go full genocide the natives.

>>3606423
>What say?

We come from Outside, and there are *Trillions* of us united in an Alliance right now.

And some billions, of those trillions, may have some sort of relationship with the Blightscales of a . . . *personal* nature. Which I will request you to not inquire me more of because they are a very private people and I honestly can't say much more.

You have some high technology here, but what we have is a matter of *scale*.

Regardless, we plan to move slowly until we can be sure there's no danger. I can't guarantee it's risk free, but much like how our sensor array was only set to passive scans we are more cautious than greedy.

>>3606727
>>3606423
Seconding the shit out of this. For all we know, the Krath may be looking for their lost Brood-mothers allowing them to explode over the universe entire.

>>3606423
>>What say?
Yeah, stop everything. A permanent solution to this problem is going to be extremely costly and time consuming. not to mention horribly dangerous if there are Proto Krath the size of spaceships floating around.

If anything I would like a way to heard them back into containment. I am sensing a possibility of blackmailing the Krath into both helping us with that by giving us data on how to do that and getting them to back the fuck off. I am sure they don't want the rest of the Factions to know they are just a bio weapon that is one step off from trying to eat everyone.

So yeah, we need to consult with our smart people and experts on the matter. But regardless of how we chose to solve the problem we CAN do it and we have more manpower than there are beasts and we got more resources than we know what to do with. So if we want to individually move every single beast? We can do it. Wipe them out with guns? Possible. Invent poison? You know it.

why couldn't it have just been a shipyard

>>3607158
Why do people have to live here? Now we got to either kill them all or negotiate >:(

>>3606419
>"Can our communications get through the structure of the tower?"
>"In this room yes." answers Af Ied
Say, would it be possible to have our Krath and the sphere scientists sent over? I'm sure they can be useful during the upcoming discussions. If the locals have faster means of transportation, we'd be grateful if they would let them use it for this trip.

“Not instantly and not all at once. Truthfully much of it will depend on factors largely beyond my control. Most of the important work would have to be done by a very reclusive species but in theory it should be possible.
Whatever solution is found we plan to move slowly until we can be sure there's no danger. Especially if scale mothers get that big."

"As expected. You'll no doubt expect compensation for all of this. What is it you would want? Weapons? Knowledge?"

"I am interested in any kind of manufacturing capability, or information on how to build artifacts."

The wizard laughs while gesturing towards you.
"Granddaughter, this is a lord of war. A soldier or a General would have simply asked for weapons or armor. Your kind are dangerous." he directs this last part to you.

"So you would be against such a trade?" you ask.

"I did not say that. I will have to give the matter some thought first. Return in two days. I have much to do before we can continue. Much of my work was hastily interrupted and must be set right before lengthy talks."

"Two days?" You suppose that would give you time to see to the Rovinar scientist and potentially talk to the Krath if you want to.

"Yes, the shuttle your people are constructing should be completed before then. You'll be provided with a safe approach corridor and landing field. My granddaughter will see to it arrangements are made, wont you?"
"Yes grandfather."
"Good."

So they've seen your base camp. Either the tower has its own observation capabilities or maybe they've tapped into the facilities sensors.

You have another question before finishing up things here.
"The scale mothers, if they were intelligent why was it not possible to reach an agreement with them?"
"Intelligent doesn't mean they're predisposed to communicating with insects. Go to the north pole. Once you see their remains I believe you will begin to understand."

It seems that's all you'll get out of the old wizard right now. The Lady however might be able to answer a question or two.

Veod asks permission to stay at the tower. He may be of some help to the wizard and his people with their various projects. Either way once the shuttle is up and running he'd like to inspect the east and west gates. Perhaps a caretaker could spot something they missed.

Let Veod stay?
>Y/N?

>>3607616

>let Veod stay?

Yes

While I'd certainly like him around for his various abilities, I suspect that we'll gain more from him assisting the local wizard. Or at least hanging around.

>>3607616
What's Uller's opinion on that? I wouldn't be opposed to have him become chief caretaker of this place once his banishment from the sphere is enacted. It would be a nice place to set up his Neeran dojo.

>The Lady however might be able to answer a question or two.
Does she want to tag along? If Veod stays we have two vacant seats on the trip back.

>Intelligent doesn't mean they're predisposed to communicating with insects
We should be able to build a holographics projector capable of creating an avatar that is their size, right?

>>3607616
>Let Veod stay?

Yes, let the Wizards talk. I think it would help our case to let the two talk. Also it could likely avoid a potential future catastrophe if the Rekesh Wizard makes a mistake that could have been avoided with help from Veod.

>"Intelligent doesn't mean they're predisposed to communicating with insects. Go to the north pole. Once you see their remains I believe you will begin to understand."

Sounds like a field trip to me. Also we can probably finally take a chance at locating the northern facility. And see if we can access it.

>>3607616
Yes, let's also find out what things would 100% trigger the defense systems too, so we know not to do those things.

>>3607616
>Let Veod stay?
Y

Interesting. So these Scale Mothers are intelligent enough to be arrogant about who and what they are while their lesser children are not. Hiveminds perhaps? And how would they respond to us I wonder since we can make ships that are bigger than they are. Regardless I would very much like to talk to one. This seems to be to be excellent Blackmail material to be used on the Krath should they prove difficult.

>>3607660
>Sounds like a field trip to me
It sure does! Seems to me like we have our next goal lined up for us. As soon as the shuttle is ready that is.

>>3607667
This seems like a very prudent thing to do. I would hate for the Energy Drain to kick in. That thing is a bitch.

>>3607673

>Scale Mothers
I believe they are all dead. Of course, the facility in the middle might hold more in another pocket dimension.

>>3607667
Yes, lets make sure we get informed of all the things to avoid doing. So as not to trigger the energy drain and other defensive fields. The Sphere Caretakers said the Sphere had its own means of self defense against a Neeran Fleet. I would not doubt this facility had its own means of self defense beyond the energy drain as well.

>>3607673
>So these Scale Mothers are intelligent enough to be arrogant about who and what they are

Or its like humans with tiny bugs. How often do you bother to investigate if an insect is attempting to communicate with you?

Especially if said insect is part of an ant/termite/bee/wasp/hornet nest inside of what you view as your home?

>>3607667
also oh god this.

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>>3607673
>And how would they respond to us I wonder since we can make ships that are bigger than they are.
What I'm really curious about is if enough Krath could form some sort of Mega Krath to communicate with them as equals (in size).

>>3607659
>We should be able to build a holographics projector capable of creating an avatar that is their size, right?
Yes this is possible.

>Does she want to tag along?
She'll see you to your vehicles but cant leave as she has too many duties here. Like making sure your shuttle can land safely on top of one of the lower towers later. Speaking of, she has one of the soldiers draw a map indicating your landing zone.

"Do not approach too early. If none of our soldier are there waiting for you do not land."

The next and most important thing is asking what would trigger the defense system. Active sensor scans of the core or direct attacks against it or primary systems. Tampering with geothermal spikes. High energy reactions producing gamma ray or antimatter bursts greater than that of thunder storms. Launching objects with a speed greater than 1 percent light speed.

"Those are the most important ones. Oh, and the chamber your people are use to gain entrance to our world. Do not attempt to open a connection to the exterior of this planet, while still in this phase of reality."

"Would that be bad? I'm getting the impression it would be bad."
"Your people would all die."

The lady looks in the direction of the immortal on the team then adds.
"Most of your people would die."
"Okay, I'll take that under advisement."

With Veod remaining here you still offer to take a representative or two with you to the equator but are declined. You dont know if its a matter of trust or if they simply prefer to use other means of travel. Just because you haven't found additional transit gates for hopping around the sphere yet doesn't mean they aren't here.

Did you want to leave anyone here to watch Veod's back?

>>3607797
>Did you want to leave anyone here to watch Veod's back?
Are any of the people with us interested in caretaker stuff? I'm sure somebody is at least curious.

>>3607809
There's one of the Knights from Thule's Prism that are with you.

>>3607797
I was gonna suggest Valeri with his recon armor, but given how they've already been able to detect basically everything about the group and its composition, there's probably no point. A Thule's Prism knight might be a good idea though.

>>3607818
I'd be up for leaving him with Veod if both are okay with it.

>>3607818
Yep, leave this guy.

The Knight is left here and asked to help out the Caretaker if there are any problems. Once back outside the bikes are returned and you contact the outpost to let them know that you'll be back soon. Also that they're under observation of an unknown type. That should keep the spooks busy.

Back aboard the bikes equipment is transferred to more evenly distribute weight given the lack of one Neeran this time. In part because of this, and relying on being able to recharge properly back at base, the team is able to push the bikes even faster. It's still going to take more than 20 hours to get there though. Unless the shuttle picks you up once finished.

Close to 3000 kilometers later you get a message sent by Rob Ecord. The Krath have considered your offer and may be interested in trading a favour in return for early access to these "marketable results" you offered. They would of course like to send a small party of observers to see what it is they would be getting involved in. Any observers would sign a strict NDA with the Dominion.

[ ] Agree
[ ] No observers, they have to take your word its worth a favour
[ ] Ask them to wait (Talk to the Rovinar scientist first)

>>3607893
>[x] Ask them to wait (Talk to the Rovinar scientist first)
>Also talk to our Krath first

>>3607893
>[ ] Ask them to wait (Talk to the Rovinar scientist first)

>>3607893

>[ ] Ask them to wait (Talk to the Rovinar scientist first)

Thank them for their interest and ask for time to setup something to show their observers. As we would like to give our potential “backers?” a good idea of what’s going on. Giving us time to question the Rovinar and also time for our scientists to whip something to show the Krath observers without letting them into the facility.

Idea is to give them a show outside the facility. Preferably at a secure location outside our base camp. But if not possible we give them a show in the camp, outside the facility. Having our scientists whip up a boring slide show or whatever. Something to make it sound like a business venture. Then also using the local lore/ history of Threochts and the Rekesh people and just before the reveal, give them the customary warning of security and NDA and stuff. And suggest that we have possibly found a place that may be a holding facility for what might be proto-Krath. And another bigger species which one of our scientists have thus called Leviathans. Showing some samples of the proto-Krath we’ve collected so far.

And at the end we ask them if what they saw is enough to garner their interest and silence. Until we can of course ensure what we have found is or is not a holding facility for proto-Krath.

>>3607893
>[ ] Ask them to wait (Talk to the Rovinar scientist first)
Buy more time for us to do our thing. I want data on Scale Mothers to bring to the table in case we need it

>>3607893
>[ ] Ask them to wait (Talk to the Rovinar scientist first)

"Ask them to please give us time while we clear it with the Rekesh first. Once that's sent tell the shuttle crew to pick us up as soon as they're operational."
"Message received sir."

It would be a few more hours before the engineers finished off the shuttle and run it through a quick shake down. You're passing the half way point before you get the signal that they're incoming towards your position. When you spot it the craft looks a bit rough around the edges but its certainly working.
Sam dismounts and the bikes are driven up the aft ramp into the bay. Barely 2 minutes later it's airborne again and headed back to base. Within 20 minutes it touches down and you waste no time finding out where the scientist is locked up. One of your people and a Rekesh army ranger are standing guard.

"Get Jan and Estavan over here now." you instruct them.

Once they arrive you open the temporary cell.
"You have some explaining to do. I had enough trouble with that mind controlled Shallan bastard last time, the last thing we need is another double agent among our science contingent."

"I'm not a double agent. I dont work for intelligence." explains Akyarres. "Personnel assigned to the sphere foundation by the respective factions have access to additional information. Threatening species to keep watch for that could pose a danger to civilization if let loose. The Krath are one such species. You know what they did in the past."

You cross your arms.
"Assume for a minute that I dont."

"I was given the report on your encounter with Rovinar from the sphere. You were already asking questions about why we look so different."

"What does that have to do with anything?" You look to Jan. "What's he talking about?"

"I dont know. I was blocked from learning much of our history."

Risto speaks up. "The details are fuzzy even for me. Our ancestors dont always choose to pass on all of their memories. I know the Rovinar have a history of encounters with the ancient leviathans or he wouldn't know about it."

All eyes turn to Akyarres who reluctantly speaks.
"They killed our homeworld. They wiped out our species and the only ones to survive were those who used genetic engineering to make themselves immune."

You'd heard over the years that the Rovinar suffer from some form of genetic degradation. This would certainly explain why.

>What say? / Questions?

>>3608164
>>What say? / Questions?

"Stop, stopstopstop. Everyone stops, right now. Info dump me. Take it from the beginning. Give me the wall of text. Whatever you want to call it"

There is a story here and I for one wants to know it. For it seems to me to be like this

Krath where once, or may still be, a species of whatever. A species naturally capable of either going into space or living in it from the start. Said species is rather aggressive towards other. Enough so to fuck over the Rovinar something fiercely and kill nearly everyone. The Rovinar as a species only surviving with the help of extensive genetic engineering to help not get infected by whatever the hell that toxin they spew out is.

Then something happened and the Proto-Krath are removed and locked away. Yet we still got modern Krath running around doing their thing. Which has me super confused and I need answers.

Does the Krath know about this? That they almost killed off the Rovinar? Are the Krath secretive because of this? They don't want people to freak out over them actually being living spaceships of doom?

>>3608164
"Wait, so those weird Rovinar we encountered on the sphere were the unmodified baseline?"
Anyway, I think we need to get the long version for once. Sonia's more or less operating on high school levels of knowledge when it comes to Rovinar and Krath.

>>3608164

All I want to know is if we hand over these proto-Krath to the Krath Government and if we find any of those Scale Mothers/ Leviathans. Will that hurt our standing with the Rovinar and nullify our agreement with them from earlier?

Yes this is some seriously bad shit between both the Krath and Rovinar. That's something from history and we previously had no way of knowing. Until now.

>>3608352

>Hand over

Inform the Krath of their presence and milk the hell out of them for time and favors.

>>3608164

"It is frankly amazing that all of these deep, dark secrets haven't ended this Factions Alliance already."

What is the worst case scenario of giving the Krath access to the blight scales?

Same for giving them access to the leviathans, should one still live or viable genetic samples exist.

Are there protocols for banning the Krath from accessing certain sites that the Krath must observe by treaty?

"Stop, stopstopstop. Everyone stops, right now. So those weird Rovinar we encountered on the sphere were the unmodified baseline?"
"One of several races, though they were the most numerous."
"Let's take this from the beginning. Give me the long version if you have to, whatever you want to call it"

"We were an early space faring civilization. The leviathans were encountered on another planet. They could adapt to almost any environment thanks to their scales. Heat, cold, kinetic impact and radiation, they adapted quickly to anything posting a threat to them. Scales that could not adapt were shed. In their thick atmosphere many could even fly. That was thought to be the extent of their abilities.

We did not use jump drives then, but a different form of FTL. I am told that they could ride the wake of our starships and followed them back to our homeworld. I'm skeptical of this claim. Maybe someone tried to capture a few smaller ones for study?

Regardless once they reached our homeworld we could not stop them. They tore through our cities, poisoned our people and were nearly invulnerable, even to nuclear weapons. Anything we found that could kill them they could adapt to. Worse they dropped their still living scales everywhere contaminating anything they touched."

Valeri sends you a text: They really need to make a Giant Mecha Rovinar versus Leviathan Kaiju movie.
You glance over your shoulder and give a brief shake of your head. Turning back you take a moment to ask a question.
"Your people survived. It couldn't have been just by making yourselves immune and hiding. Unless survivors started over on another colony."

"The scales are intelligent enough to do what their leviathan needs. By combining the intelligence of at least three and getting them to work together, to network their minds, they can attain sapience as a single individual. Once enough of them had reached that point it spread to others. We never defeated the Leviathans, their own scales did."

"I am going to be sick." says Jan before walking away.
Estavan doesn't look terribly pleased but he's not as surprised as you might have expected either.

>What say?

>>3608615
>They really need to make a Giant Mecha Rovinar versus Leviathan Kaiju movie.
Hmmmm, I wonder who could fund it? Hint it's us

> By combining the intelligence of at least three and getting them to work together, to network their minds, they can attain sapience as a single individual. Once enough of them had reached that point it spread to others

I am still confused. Did the Blight Scales begin to merge with each other to form the now Krath species and they in turn killed off the Leviathans? This is also all to terrifying when you think about it. Did the Krath lose their innate ability to travel at FTL using just their bodies? And survive space flight? Are there ships actually just giant Kraths? This is a whole new level of wtf. Actually.

>What say?
"What the fuck"

Regardless of what. We have our blackmail material if we need the Krath to ever back the fuck off. And holy shit I need to sleep. My brain is not up for this right now.

>>3608673

>"What the fuck"

Seconding.

>>3608615

"Should the Krath government be prevented from or given priority access to this place and the blight scales? Or something between?"

They have training to -identify- dangerous, world ending species. What the hell is the protocol from there?

>>3608615

So does this mean Krath are made by combining three proto-Krath into one whole entity? That's unusual. Though sounds like the slug things from Halo, where you take several slug things to make those big hulking Hunters with plasma cannons. Only instead of a colony or what not you only need a couple proto-Krath and bam, new person. Or if you want, you can sedate and separate them and recombine different proto-Krath to create another person.

Lego Krath! One forms the legs, the other the torso and the third one the head!

But yeah, with what we found. And what he's telling us I'm sure we could use this info to manipulate the Krath into keeping quiet about this place for as long as we need. Just need to make insurance to prevent them from nuking the site from orbit as an accident. In case they don't take kindly to people poking into their past and finding their pre-civilized selves.

>>3608615
"I knew it was too much to hope for just a shipyard."

"What the fuck." you try to get your head around the scenario.
"Wait, so the scales begin to just merge with each other to form the now Krath species?"

"Not on their own." the scientist answers.
"Your people experimented on them." accuses Risto.
"Faced with the alternative of extinction? Any Rovinar would do the same."

"What did your people do to them?" you ask, keeping a neutral tone.
"From what I have read, not much. The scales could already transmit information rapidly by touch as though they were part of a larger organism. It probably helped them respond to their Leviathan's intentions. I think they need a boost to the amount of neurotransmitter they release and time to attempt to network?"

"Then once enough of them had reached the point of sapience they could help other scales on their own?" Asks Risto.

"Yes. Growth or spread of intelligent Krath wouldn't have been exponential but close to it. The new Krath then killed or subdued the Leviathans. When we had recovered enough to rebuild our industry we constructed a small number of starships and asked them politely to leave our world.
I dont know if they killed or enslaved the Leviathans on their homeworld."

"They had to have been enslaved." says Estavan.
"Why do you say that?" you ask.

Jan returns and gives the other Krath an odd look. He shrugs in return.
"We've gone this far right? We need their blood to prolong our life cycle or we slowly lose our ability to adapt over time. There are alternatives but they have side effects or dont work as well.
Those of us living in the protectorate have survived using those alternate drugs for hundreds of years, so it is possible to survive and even reproduce without it."

"If you're throwing out secrets I have about a million questions." you tell them.
"One, did the Krath lose their innate ability to travel at FTL using just their bodies?"

"I didn't even know we could do that." answers Risto.
"News to me too, but my government didn't tell me shit." adds Jan.

"Two, can you survive space flight?"
"Yes?" both reply.
"I dont recommend it."
"Maybe 15 minutes?"
"I think I could do an hour if I took some adrenaline first to keep moving around."

You look between them. "Wait, I thought epinephrine was really bad for Krath?"
"It is."
"I mean, if you take a lot yeah."
"How much is a lot?"
Neither feel comfortable answering that.

Glancing between them you decide to move on.
"Three, are your starships actually just giant Krath?"
They consider this, bouncing their answer back and forth.
"No? Not entirely?"
"They do have living bits in some of them."
"Well the battlecruisers yeah, the Frigates almost never."
"Let's go with a bit?"
"A bit. They've got living bits in parts of them."
"Not proper Krath but parts of them are alive."

"What about the Krath Medium cruiser we got intel on?"
Neither have even heard of them before.

>>3609084

"Akyarres, what's our worst case scenario for giving the Krath outside access to the blight scales?"

"They kill all of us to keep it a secret and make it look like an accident."

That's about what you guessed.
"And what are they most likely to do?
"Make you sign some NDA's with your fortune as collateral."

"So in everyone's opinion, should the Krath government be prevented from or given priority access to this place and the blight scales? Or something between?"

Jan has an idea.
"A team is going to arrive here, or on the surface, once you give them the green light right? Just tell them you've found proto Krath here and want to keep it quiet while they're removed. Then ask for a not too outlandish bribe to ensure your cooperation and silence."

>What say?

>>3609105

"What about informing the Rovinar government? This sounds like something that both they and the Krath are stakeholders in, due to the shared past, and it should be a viable oversight mechanism for safety."

We'll likely have to call in a Rovinar rep ASAP.

>>3609156
>>3609105
Yeah, this.

But first let's get the Krath team down here into an area that WE control completely before letting them know what's going on.

Also, point out that there's a force inside of the sphere that's already in control of it and might decide to reach out themselves, as opposed to letting us be the gatekeepers if we go missing or the site is "mysteriously destroyed" and we don't know where they might come out or who they might be in contact with if they do.

Not to mention other caretakers/sphere's that might exist and respond to an emergency by deciding that all krath and krath related items should be removed from the galactic setting.

TL;DR they can work with us to keep some measure of control, or they can freak out and lose any control.

Clearly, we aren't willing to give them unrestricted or unsupervised access because we would like to keep living, thank you very much.

>>3609105
I think we should keep them far away from this place in that case. They might have some kind of suicide directive for situations like this - blow up or de-phase the sphere at all costs? Who knows, this is pretty risky with actual Krath outside waiting.

>>3609156
>>3609215
>>3609307

[ ] Talk to the Krath first
[ ] Bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives
[ ] Talk to the Rovinar first
[ ] Panic and call the Alliance

>>3609362
>[ ] Bring in both Krath and Rovinar representative.

>[ ] Set up a dead mans switch to send the info out if they try to gank us.

Resuming later on saturday looks like.

>>3609435
Supporting

>>3608615
>Threatening species to keep watch for that could pose a danger to civilization if let loose.
What else is on that list?

>The leviathans were encountered on another planet.
Was that their home world or were they already capable of space travel?

>Maybe someone tried to capture a few smaller ones for study?
>They tore through our cities, poisoned our people and were nearly invulnerable, even to nuclear weapons.
Did the Rovinar ever manage to communicate with them?

>By combining the intelligence of at least three and getting them to work together, to network their minds, they can attain sapience as a single individual.
If you start with more scales, does it result in smarter Krath?

>>3609084
>"They had to have been enslaved."
So peaceful coexistence with them is not possible? You'd think after a couple of centuries of slavery they'd mellow a bit.

>>3609362
>[x] Bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives
Add in a clause that we're allowed to keep their representatives in stasis for a century or two if we have reason to believe they won't observe secrecy.

>>3609105
>"A team is going to arrive here, or on the surface, once you give them the green light right? Just tell them you've found proto Krath here and want to keep it quiet while they're removed. Then ask for a not too outlandish bribe to ensure your cooperation and silence."

That's what I figured this would end up like. Wow. This was quite the revelation we got here.

In any case. Bring down some high level Krath for a chat and lay the cards on the table in a place we control. That we know everything but we have no real interest in spreading said knowledge. Under the assumption that we get something in return that is. And what is that you ask? Two things immediately comes to mind.

One. Recognize that this area we got a hold of, and all the Builder Tech within, belongs to the Rekesh and the Dominion and that no other Faction or organization has any right to it.

Secondly. And this one is negotiable for obvious reasons. In the near future there will be a discussion within the Factions where the Dominion will square off against the Terrans over technology. In which the Krath will back the Dominion. They do not need to be overwhelmingly behind the Dominion in doing so but they need to voice some sort of support after which they do not need to say any more. There by securing their support in the Dominions right to have SP tech.

Both of those things are incredibly valuable and fairly easy for the Krath to make. In return we allow them access to deal with the Blight Scales as they see fit and put so much red tape over this entire thing that it looks like a Christmas present. No one but those already in the know will know about this. No one will ever spread the information.

I think that is fairly fair of us. Perhaps we can achieve the same deal from the Rovinar? Which would all but guarantee us retaining control over this planet and our access to SP tech.

[ ] Bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives

>>3609105
>>3609362

Well, shit, I expected there to be some significance for the Krath here. Something we could use to keep THEM quiet about it for a while longer. This has gone the other direction where they'll likely do whatever to keep US quiet about this place.

>[ ] Bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives

So I think we should first send a message out to the RH Intel guys or the RH Baron with us and tell them that our treasure has also come with a political minefield the size of black hole and we’re going to do the best we can to defuse it.

Then we bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives and inform them both of what we found. That we’re planning to keep quiet about this place, so long as they allow us to keep/ take whatever archeo tech we find. And we would like for them to also keep quiet about this place. As for the proto-Krath, we have no interest in diving deeper into that field than the barest surface of what we have seen/ learned. Biological study of species from the Factions Alliance is not our forte or desire.

And as anon >>3609871 suggested, see if we cant get the Krath/ Rovinar to support/ back the Dominion on a project in the future. We don’t have to give them the specifics. Just that we would like their support on something nebulous, but not dangerous.

And of course, have a back up in the event that we somehow ‘disappear’ or die of ‘mysterious causes’. All the info is made available to everyone in the Factions Alliance, that we tried to find a peaceful resolution to this situation and they decided against it.

>>3609362

[x]Call in a Rovinar Rep ASAP
[x]Talk to both Krath and Rovinar representatives


I believe that we should conduct all talks outside of the subspace pocket and not allow any krath into the pocket until things are sorted.

Getting a Rovinar rep moving here before the Krath decide they can strong-arm us into silence or we come under 'enemy' long range jamming should be a priority.

And it may be paranoia, but should our forces be placed on combat alert?

>>3610012
>And it may be paranoia, but should our forces be placed on combat alert?
If this turns into a situation where that changes anything we've already fucked up beyond belief.

>>3609362
>[ ] Bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives
I think this is a great opportunity to show that the current dynasty of the Dominion is sensible and can be expected to act as sensibly as any of the other established factions. Instead of taking the easy way out and simply killing all those proto-Krath to keep the installation a secret and gain favour with Threocht's descendants, we do the decent thing and the Krath collect their relatives. So they can fuse their underdeveloped brains and primitive bodies together to create new Krath... yay?

>>3610180
>we do the decent thing and the Krath collect their relatives

Hopefully we don't give the Krath some sort of massive boost in the process, weakening the Dominion. I wonder how many guys in Helios are still thinking of killing us over that last one

>>3610372
This isn't a zero sum game. Stronger Krath who like the Dominion are better than weaker Krath who are indifferent towards us.

>>3609084
>We need their blood to prolong our life cycle or we slowly lose our ability to adapt over time.
And they're cute crabs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-butN9lrdWs

>>3610180
This is assuming the Krath don't want us to wipe out the Blightscales themselves.

I've been thinking about stuff we can sell to the Rekesh and other locals:

-Arcologies: The main advantage is that these can be built elsewhere and then simply dropped on the planet. We could rent hull space on Dominion supers moving to the front to transport them to this cluster. They would provide a decent immediate boost to planets that have been thoroughly evacuated by the Neeran. They'd also provide additional protection from planetary raids if equipped properly.

-Stalker Class ships: They're relatively cheap, decent enough combat ships, and can be quickly modified for a variety of roles. One ideas was to sell these at 50% or even 33% of their base price but requiring their new owners to only buy mission modules through Sonia.

-Stun grenades: These are super useful.

-Torpedo launchers: Give them the blueprint for the baseline faction torpedo launcher so they can add them to their ship designs. If we'll ever have to defend this galaxy alongside them, the FA will be able to boost the combat potential of their ships with SP torps.

Aside from that, ship samples of new ships and tech we've captured back to our House. If the RH agrees, send a Kraken and samples of these interceptor missiles to House Aries so they can start work on a Dominion equivalent. Just in case we need it in the future.

Leviathan vs E-Beams who gonna win lmao

>>3610769
What ever happened to Troy's mobile raiding factory ship that we were told would get us in trouble if we ever sold it to the South Reach?

Because that seems like it would be perfect for rebels, and the Neeran Empire is far enough away to make it less likely to come back to us.

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>>3611319
That one was axed when TSTG got tired of people just dumping their ship ideas on him, I think.

>>3607616
>A soldier or a General would have simply asked for weapons or armor. Your kind are dangerous.
If we can make a request, I would like to ask for a sphere tech humanoid body for Versa. And the other AIs we have met, if the local Rekesh feel generous or sympathetic. Not a drone or something like that but a body that can actually house the entire AI. Preferably without being powerful enough to become a problem if it goes haywire.

>>3612403

>sphere tech humanoid body for Versa

obligatory 'oh god no' to freeing any AI from its containment systems.

>>3612403
>>3612528
.... I have never wanted anything as much as I want this. The intelligence and calculation of a AI. At the size of a Human

>>3612403
I want to try this more to see if it can be done, purely out of curiosity.

>>3610769
>Stun grenades
Was production for those ever set up on Rioja? Or were they still being imported?

>a Kraken and samples of these interceptor missiles to House Aries so they can start work on a Dominion equivalent.
The Kraken and its anti-torpedo loadout was inspired by Aries produced interceptor missiles. Just so you're aware there is already a Dominion equivalent of the missiles at least. They're just not normally taking up a significant fraction of the ship's volume like they do on the Kraken.
It would probably be possible to redesign a version of the basic escort carrier, replacing fighter bays and stores with the missiles. If you wanted you could skip House Aries involvement entirely.

>>3611319
>What ever happened to Troy's mobile raiding factory ship that we were told would get us in trouble if we ever sold it to the South Reach?
That was a player submitted design. What to do with it was left up to the player majority, and nothing was done with it as a result.
It was at least partially responsible for giving me the idea for the Moradin Class.

>>3613946
>Just so you're aware there is already a Dominion equivalent of the missiles at least.
The idea was to supply them the Neeran version so they can check if there's anything to learn from it.

>Was production for those ever set up on Rioja?
I would assume so, at the latest after the incident when our soldiers intervening during the coup shot a couple of civilians because they weren't supplied with stun grenades.

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>>3613991
That would tend to indicate a lack of supply. Meaning either not enough are being produced or you're still importing them.

>>3612403
>sphere tech humanoid body for Versa.
That's dangerous for a whole bunch of reasons. Not just because of the threat that an indestructible drone body could be. Though that alone should be enough. Most people aren't prepared to use antimatter as an anti-personnel weapon.

Actually I think you'd be farther ahead with those jell ball immobilization things in the Incredibles.

I wonder if they could even cram an AI like Versa into a human sized platform?

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I'm still a bit messed up from having to drink buckets of gatorade to stay on my feet today at work so general Q&A for tonight and I'll run through the afternoon tomorrow until about 4:30pm.

>>3611089
It's probably not a coincidence that the Rovinar developed such weapons.

>>3610012
>And it may be paranoia, but should our forces be placed on combat alert?
That's the wonderful thing about operating in a war zone, they're already on alert at some level.

>>3609814
>What else is on that list?
There was a species that almost wiped out the Republic one time. There were others I remembered this morning but have now forgotten. Probably a couple species of plants too.

>Was that their home world or were they already capable of space travel?
Presumably their homeworld since the Krath generally inhabit planets with similarly hostile atmospheres.

>Did the Rovinar ever manage to communicate with them?
Not as far as Akyarres is aware.

>If you start with more scales, does it result in smarter Krath?
Risto thinks large numbers may not work as their are probably limits on brain inter connectivity.

"Let's see if we can make the best of this situation. I'm going to bring in both Krath and Rovinar representatives."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asks Jan.
"Not really? It's better than the alternatives if things go wrong. I'm worried if we just talk to one of them they'll be more inclined to kill us and cover it up."

"They still might try." points out Valeri.
"That's why I'm going to have some insurance ready and waiting."

The blight scale samples are packed up in sealed biohazard containers then placed in stasis. They'll be shipped back through tot he surface. One will be there for your presentation to the diplomats, the other will be sent off as part of your insurance policy. Sealed messages are written up for delivery to your fleet commanders and the Baron on what to do in the event of your death. Or one under mysterious circumstances.

Once you reach the surface you contact Admiral Elerain to request a diplomatic team with the highest security clearance they can manage. Once thart message is acknowledged you inform the Krath that the situation has changed. They'll also need to send a high level diplomat. This takes several hours, with both groups wanting to know what it's about. Claiming that it cant be discussed over coms seems to do the trick for now.

By the time shuttles from either group touch down inside the base perimeter Rob Ecord informs you the insurance policy is away and secure. As an added precaution he had the landing pads and several other areas around the base surrounded by bio hazard sterilization fields. The meeting will be held in a sealed cargo bay aboard one of the parked Frigates.

Who did you want to be present during this meeting aside from your bodyguards

Ruling House representative

Rob Ecord
J-D Immortals
Thule's Prism Knights
Uller Caretaker, combat specialist
Sam (Light Neeran)
Dave (Light Neeran)
Estavan Risto (Krath, private security)
Jan Novák (Former Krath special ops)
Akyarres (Sphere foundation, Rovinar rep)

Tu Quedis (Rekesh Liason )
Ten Zohn (Scientist/Researcher)
An Tain (Rekesh Army ranger)

>Others?

So if there are multiple entrances to the subspace pocket, should we negotiate on behalf of the Emperor to obtain long-term land leases above them?

We could offer some of those tech upgrades that they were interested in to bring the Rekesh closer to the Dominion and the Royal House, and generally create 'just try and cut us out of this' legal/treaty barriers to Factions Alliance access to the subspace pocket.

And I am specifically suggesting the Royal House on purpose as I believe this is in the best interests of the Dominion as a whole. With J-D's recent civil war and the lingering issues it will cause on top of our already over-extended layout, the Royal House seems like the best option here.

Of course, we include a clause that allows Sonia to participate as part of her negotiator's bonus.

We use said participation clause to partner with DHI to form a local subsidiary, with Sonia & DHI as major partners and our Expeditionary Force's officers/knights as minority partners.

The Rekesh get tech upgrades to strengthen their position here. The Dominion hopefully brings the Rekesh closer as friends/allies. DHI expands into a new market. Sonia gains political clout by both rewarding her fleet long term, and acting as a barrier to J-D's traitorous elements profiting off of the Rekesh.

And we hopefully delay further any Faction Alliance or Sphere Foundation access to the subspace pocket without Dominion permission/oversight/approval.

>>3615790

>present parties

Ruling House Rep
Rob Ecord
Akyarres
Uller Caretaker
Ten Zohn
An Tain

I believe Jan and Risto are best left out of the meeting, and possibly within the subspace pocket so we can deny that they have given up any information or even seen the creatures. For their own safety.

Similar exclusion reasons for the Immortals, Sam&Dave and Thule's Prism Knights, but have them ready to respond to a backstab.

>>3615790
>Rob Ecord
>Uller Caretaker
Basic health insurance. Add to this in case the other sides insist on bringing more people.

>Ruling House representative
>Akyarres
>Tu Quedis
>Ten Zohn
>Sam/Dave, let them pick whoever can stand this type of talk better.
Other parties already involved.

Not sure about Jan and Risto.

>>3615790
>Ruling House representative

Are a given, and as for any others.

>Uller Caretaker, combat specialist
>Sam (Light Neeran)
>Estavan Risto (Krath, private security)
>Akyarres (Sphere foundation, Rovinar rep)
>Tu Quedis (Rekesh Liason )

>>3615790
Ruling House representative
Uller Caretaker, combat specialist
Rob Ecord
Akyarres (Sphere foundation, Rovinar rep)
Sam (Light Neeran)
Dave (Light Neeran)

Sam and Estavan wait outside, standing by with reinforcements should anything happen. You, Uller and Akyarres are present, with Rob ushering in the Ruling House representative being the last to arrive.

The Federation diplomat Schiroth speaks up, voice echoing through the cargo bay.
"I hope this is important Viscount, the Rovinar fleet is busy fighting Ulgean privateers masquerading as Neeran holdouts. I could be convincing a system to side with the Alliance right now."

Without further preamble you uncover the sealed container at the center of the room and set the walls to be transparent. The Krath immediately know what it is judging by their slight change in posture. You get the impression that they're now ready for just about anything.

"I don't understand." says Schiroth, looking around. "What is this?"

You turn to the Krath representative.
"Will you be telling them or will you leave it to one of us?"

"Let the scientist do it." they give a raspy voiced reply, nodding in the direction of Akyarres.

"It's a proto-krath life form identical to the sort that wiped out most of the Rovinar species early in our space faring history. They emit airborne toxins that are deadly or harmful to most species. In this form they are not fully sapient."

Schiroth seems astonished by this, apparently not having known many of the details. Stepping closer the ambassador looks over the remains.

"It's dead?"
"Yes, but still a hazard for anyone nearby."

[ ] "We have half a planet full of live ones."
[ ] "We know where to find more."
[ ] "Let's talk about how to keep this quiet."
>Or alternatively, what say?

>>3616019
>[ ] "We have half a planet full of live ones."

>>3616019
[ ] "We have half a planet full of live ones."

Don't tell them where, how or any of the details behind this. Just throw this on them to further make them unbalanced. Then hit them with

[ ] "Let's talk about how to keep this quiet."

And we can lay out our fairly reasonable and not at all blackmailing demands.

>>3616019
>[ ] "Let's talk about how to keep this quiet."

>>3616019
"We were fortunate enough to only collect a handful of samples of them before we were informed what they are. You see, we wouldn't be keeping all of you from your work if there wasn't something special about these creatures beyond that. These proto-Krath are not sapient in their current state but with some help three of them can form fully sapient Krath.
I felt it is the proper thing to speak to both of your governments before deciding on what to do about them. They don't really agree with their current biosphere, so we'd prefer to relocate them. Quietly, if possible."

>>3616019

"As you can assume. This is an issue that involves both the Federation and the Krath. While I would like to continue my endeavor with the dig site. These proto-Krath present an issue the involves two factions whom the Dominion is allied with. And it would behoove us to find a solution benefiting all three of us. Since I'm certain the Krath would rather this not go beyond these walls. And I am sure the Federation would like a word in what to do with this discovery. While the Dominion would like to find a solution that allows us to resume our work with our Rekesh allies. Without endangering our alliance with the Krath or the Federation."

Then present several solutions how we would be willing to work with them to remain quiet with this.

Extreme option> We destroy the proto-Krath in their entirety.
Drawn our cooperation with Krath/ Rovinar> Develop a means to move these Krath to a Krath world.
Do nothing> Leave the proto-Krath where they are. (Since the Rekesh have them in hand. We would just provide them with tools to make combating Krath raids easier.)

>>3616019
Did we have somebody check the Leviathan skeletons?

>>3616095
>Did we have somebody check the Leviathan skeletons?
We'll say that the shuttle is currently working on that. It shouldn't be long until their recordings are sent through.

>>3616125
I feel it could be prudent to mention that we also have a collection of huge skeletons. Just to make sure they don't go in full alert mode thinking that there might be Leviathans roaming freely somewhere nearby.

>>3616019
> Say nothing and wait to see what questions they have.

>>3616136
That's also pretty sensible.

Gone to work.

Probably going with a combo of this by the looks of things.
>half a planet full of live ones/ how to keep this quiet.

>>3616264
wrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

>>3616264
Were we smart enough to bring Fadila?

You slap your hand down on top of the container, startling the ambassadors.

"We have half a planet full of live ones." you declare, making eye contact with everyone present in turn.
"They're killing the locals and being killed in return. Let's all talk about how to keep this quiet. The Rekesh are very eager to find ways to prevent the deaths of any more of their people. I'm sure the Ruling House would also like to avoid any sort of incident between our Factions."
You look to their representative for support who quickly speaks up.

"Absolutely. The Emperor wishes to maintain peaceful ties with the other Factions where possible. There is no need for the other Factions, or any other Houses, to be made aware of this."

"You dont intend to hold this information above our heads as blackmail?" asks the Krath rep, who still hasn't given a name of any kind.

"Simple exchange of wants is the easiest." replies the RH diplomat who then nods to you to carry on.

"We, that is myself, the Ruling House and the Rekesh, want the proto-krath removed from this planet safely so that no one else is hurt. That will mean less chance of anyone else finding out your dark secrets." you tell them.

The Krath consider your words before asking a question of their own.
"Are there any Leviathans present?"

It's Akyarres turn to speak.
"We have reason to believe all the ones that escaped containment died a few hundred years ago. The Dominion forces have a shuttle investigating a supposed graveyard. They should be back soon."

"Escaped containment?!" They're not happy to hear this.

"Calm yourself shifter." Uller urges. "They may have been placed inside of a quarantine facility hidden here thousands of years ago."

"As I said before we want them removed and will provide you any aid needed to so do..."

[ ] In return we'll keep all of this quiet
[ ] In return we want you to support our claim to this facility
[ ] Other?

>>3621846
"In return we desire two things. The first of which is none negotiable. The second however is negotiable. Firstly we want you to either ensure that this facility remains a secret to anyone but us. That includes the Factions Alliance. Alternatively support the claim of the Dominion and the Rekesh to this facility."

"Secondly. There will soon in all likelihood be a conflict with in the Factions Alliance between the Dominion and the Terran Alliance. The nature of this conflict will remain a secret for now. We do not require you to support us in it if you do not wish to. But you may not support the Terran Alliance and their point of view. Hopefully that will also work to prevent future conflicts with in the Alliance as a whole."

In essence ensure they either lie about the facility that there is nothing on this planet except a lot of Rekesh and their allied Dominion forces helping to secure newly liberated worlds. Or in the case that this facility is found out by others others than the Dominion who will tattle to those they should then they will support our claim.

The second, that people might be iffy about, is about securing either their neutrality or support in the upcoming SP tech fit that the Terrans will throw once the Emperor declares the Dominion has SP tech.

>>3621869
>Firstly we want you to either ensure that this facility remains a secret to anyone but us.
Reminder: The Alliance knows a facility is here or nearby..

>>3621846
>[ ] In return we want you to support our claim to this facility

>>3621877
Oh. I thought they where just guessing about that.

>>362184
Can we hear the Krath side of the story about the Leviathans? If anybody had a chance to actually communicate with them, I guess it would be the Krath.
>[ ] In return we'll keep all of this quiet
Add neutrality when it comes to how to deal with this facility and not attempting any kind of infiltration.

>[ ] Other?
Both of their factions indefinitely withdraw all support for Terran covert actions against the Dominion, unless the Domnion declares a war of aggression against the Terrans.

>>3621869
>conflict [...] between the Dominion and the Terran Alliance.
>Rovinar stay neutral
If there is any support for this it would probably be best to word it as a potential legal conflict due to the Rovinar having a long standing mutual defense pact with the Terrans.

>>3621978
>withdraw all support for Terran covert actions against the Dominion
Or that.

>>3621978
>>3621986
>>withdraw all support for Terran covert actions against the Dominion
I can throw my vote behind this over and supporting our claim

>>3621978
>>3621999
>over and supporting our claim
So 2 votes for keeping it quiet.

>>3621907
1 for supporting our claim

Plus asking for backing up the dominion over the terran covert actions. Right?

>>3622054
>>3621999

[ ] In return we want you to support our claim to this facility
[ ] Withdraw all support for Terran covert actions against the Dominion

There. That should make it simpler for me at lest!

"In return we want you to support our claim to this facility and withdraw all support for Terran covert actions against the Dominion."

This snaps the Rovinar ambassador out of their reverie.
"That is an oddly specific request, especially the second part. What do political meddling between states back home have to do with this?"

"There was a Terran black ops team conducting operations on my own homeworld just a year ago. It just so happened to be right in the middle of a period of civil unrest. I'm sure if a Dominion House were to do something similar against a Terran Alliance or Federation world there would be repercussions. Instead it's largely been a slap on the wrist. We all know the Terrans target Dominion research facilities, and have done so even when we're supporting the Factions Alliance in this war."
You take a deep breath to calm down a bit.

"I'm not asking you to take our side, just to stop supporting theirs. Even if it is just for the immediate future."

Ambassador Schiroth watches you and your Ruling House ally.
"I'll have to talk to my government about this. As for your claim to a facility here-"
"The Krath Union are willing to agree to these terms." interrupts the Krath representative.

This seems to catch the Rovinar off guard. "What? Why would you do that?"

The Krath pointedly ignores this question.
"We will help in the recovery of the Krath ancestors found here under your terms. We would like to request the inclusion of an observer of our own to accompany your teams if they search out regions where other Krath might be sealed away."

>Do you agree to this condition?

Gone to dinner!

>>3622130
Sure, Krath are bros.

>>3622130
>>Do you agree to this condition?
Yes

>>3622130
I agree to the Unions terms in full. I now like the Union. They can decide things quickly.

>>3622130
> Agree

We don't plan on accessing the sealed areas anytime soon if ever after all.

>>3622130
> Y

Sure, after all we came to them on this thing because quite frankly we know this is a touchy situation. Still, having heard the full story and seeing as how the Krath didn't wipe out the Rovinar and even returned their worlds to them, they seem pretty trustable regarding this.

We don't want to accidentally or intentionally cause a genocide after all. So having someone along who knows what they're doing with these would be great.

You agree to the Krath Union's terms, apparently to the annoyance of the Rovinar.

"I can't possibly agree to both of these things, not without the approval of a higher government authority." Ambassador states.
"At most I can secure an agreement on one of them at this time."

Your Ruling House backup speaks up in response.
"Then perhaps you should make haste and speak to your government to avoid appearing less benevolent than the Krath Union."

[ ] Agree with your ally (No immediate agreement with Rovinar)
[ ] Support our claim to this facility
[ ] Withdraw support for Terran covert ops against Dominion

>>3622288
>[ ] Agree with your ally (No immediate agreement with Rovinar)

United front guys.

>>3622288
>[x] Agree with your ally (No immediate agreement with Rovinar)
Stay out of this. If anything goes wrong, at least it will be the ruling house's fault.

>>3622288

[x] Agree with your ally

For the time being, suspend further ventures into blightscale/protokrath regions? This will allow the Rovinar time to talk to their government, and for now they can participate with the "how will we do this" planning?

>>3622288
>[ ] Agree with your ally (No immediate agreement with Rovinar)

>>3622288
>[ ] Agree with your ally (No immediate agreement with Rovinar)

> Invite the Krath representative to tour further into the sphere and discuss our other findings as we originally agreed.

See >>3607893

> The Krath have considered your offer and may be interested in trading a favour in return for early access to these "marketable results" you offered.

Put some pressure on the Rovinar that they're going to possibly lose out by not being present.

Offer to let the Rovinar come along as a favor though, if they really want to. But it'll be a bigger favor than normal, since inviting them along with the Krath was already done out of consideration for their close relationship and we're taking a risk since they aren't capable of guaranteeing our protection if their government decides to be dicks about this.

>>3622288
>[ ] Support our claim to this facility
Anyone else concerned about what this guy could say when he leaves?

You back your ally showing a united front.
"If you lack the authority then I agree you should contact those who do. Even without a proper agreement though I hope the Rovinar government can be counted on to keep everything discussed here confidential?"

"Yes. Only those with a need to know will be informed. I will speak to Admiral Elerain in person for additional insight before any attempt to contact our government."

"Sounds good." you reply. "You know, I could allow you to keep an observer here with us but you would owe me a favour. Us a favour." you hastily correct, gesturing to your ally.

Schiroth is wary of accepting such an offer. They must have done a bit research on you before hand.
"I think we will postpone. Thank you regardless Viscount."

While the Rovinar ambassador begins making notes to themselves you turn your attention back to the Krath.
"If you dont mind my asking what can you tell us about the Leviathans? We have what little my own people and the doctor here have been able to share. Just enough to know we needed to contact your government."

The human guise of the Krath suddenly looks very weary. Old even.
"The Rovinar named them Leviathans. Each one is possessed of malevolent intelligence, capable of processing data received from the hundreds or thousands of krath ancestors that protected them. They could send signals to those in direct contact with their nervous system ordering their armor to adapt to different threats or those about to be encountered.
It was a symbiotic relationship. Our ancestors benefited greatly from the unique properties of the Leviathan's blood while feeding on it, or drawing nutrients from it. In return a Leviathan was nearly unstoppable by any natural threat. The largest ones could destroy mountains to get at minerals to consume."

That seems to be consistent with the other stories you'd heard.
"Was there no way to communicate with them?"

"They barely communicated with us, but they most certainly could communicate advanced concepts between each other. Ultimately they only care for their own kind. Species capable of industry like they Rovinar would only be seen as tools to be used or pests to be crushed."

>Questions?

>>3622436
Sounds like an excellent way to have to fight the Dominion, AND the Krath AND the Rekesh, and possibly the Ulgeans, and possibly the Light Neeran.

Those are the forces I think we could reasonably swing to our side in order of decreasing likelihood.

Not to even bring up the Caretakers or the people of the Sphere themselves.

Besides, we can still give them the same offer of preferential access we originally proposed to get them down here.

>>3622497
> So, did Krath not evolve along with the Leviathan's then?

> Where do you think the Sphere builders got them?

> What is your recommendation if there IS a containment breach?

> We have some biotech specialist researchers who are a refugee remnant species. Given our close working nature now, they would love to be able to work with you on any projects related to this. An outside perspective could be quite useful, and we/they have an EXCELLENT record of adhering to NDAs and discretion. Or we should if your intel gathering abilities live up to hype.

>>3622497
>Questions?
Were the Rovinar the first alien species the Leviathans had encountered?
Do the Krath still keep them around?
How much of their life as proto-Krath do they remember once they're elevated into sapience?
Why are they so secretive about the whole situation? It's not exactly glamorous or anything but people have done worse.

>>3622497

>In the event that a living Leviathan -is- present, what will the priority be? Kill, re-contain, capture, or other?

>Is there an existing protocol for this situation?

>Is there anything we'll need to secure local production for? Chemicals or specific materials for containment systems? Or, worst case, for anti-Leviathan weapons?

One thing I'd like to ask Uller and the other caretaker representative - how did the caretakers collect these Leviathans? Even if the Krath brought some with them when the Factions moved to this region, the time frame is all wrong. Their arrival would fall into the Neeran caretaker era and this whole facility doesn't seem that new. There are also no Neeran caretakers here and it seems like they never were.

>So, did Krath not evolve along with the Leviathan's then?
They are from the same planet and evolved to become more symbiotic over time.

>Where do you think the Sphere builders got them?
They dont know, suggesting you ask the Caretakers since they know nothing about this place. They speculate that if this is a quarantine facility they may have been found and captured for study. Or they may have hitched a ride in the wake of a starship like what happened to the Rovinar.

>What is your recommendation if there IS a containment breach?
Hide or get the hell out. Avoid direct engagement or drawing attention to yourselves. Call for help and a Krath strike team will attempt to pacify, subdue or kill any leviathans that are present.
If necessary E-beam weapons should be effective but should only be used in number.

"What kind of numbers are we talking about?"
"If you're using smaller salvager grade e-beams, they should be grouped into batteries of at least four. If you're engaging a lone Leviathan you may be able to down it with only 50% casualties."

Uh, those aren't the sort of figures you're used to dealing with.
"What if there are more than one?"
"Do not engage. Hide."

>biotech specialist researchers who are a refugee remnant species.
>we/they have an EXCELLENT record of adhering to NDAs and discretion.
"Viscount it is imperative that you do not share any information about the Leviathans with the Nai. We have well founded concerns about what they would do if they ever acquired a sample from one."

"They're really good at holding to their legal agreements." you point out, only for the ambassador to reiterate their previous.

"Do not under any circumstances."
"Right, okay. Not a word."

>>3622541
>Were the Rovinar the first alien species the Leviathans had encountered?
Presumably, though that isn't certain. It's possible they may have had contact with the ancient Lanican. They dont have any evidence for or against this.

>Do the Krath still keep them around?
Their ambassador takes a long time deciding what to tell you. Maybe trying to conclude if it might be best to simply lie. Eventually they lean in close and whisper a single word; "Yes."

>How much of their life as proto-Krath do they remember once they're elevated into sapience?
"I dont know. We dont subject our offspring to that stage of development anymore."

>Why are they so secretive about the whole situation? It's not exactly glamorous or anything but people have done worse.
"How would you like your people to be known as an especially virulent form of tick or parasite that killed most of a space faring civilization because they didn't know any better?"

>>3622691
>"Viscount it is imperative that you do not share any information about the Leviathans with the Nai. We have well founded concerns about what they would do if they ever acquired a sample from one."


Cool, cool. Alright then, jeeze guys. If it would make them feel better, we can sign an exclusivity contract and give the Krath control over information security to prevent relevant data from leaking out.

This is a big step trust-wise, but since it concerns the root of their species and all we're willing to work together on this.

>>3622547
>In the event that a living Leviathan -is- present, what will the priority be? Kill, re-contain, capture, or other?
>Is there an existing protocol for this situation?
Call for help from the Krath / Run_away.monty_python
See: >>3622691

>Is there anything we'll need to secure local production for? Chemicals or specific materials for containment systems? Or, worst case, for anti-Leviathan weapons?
This question catches them off guard.
"It may be worth while to produce neutralizing agents to clear toxins present in the atmosphere or to help with decontamination."

"The Rekesh do have a good intelligence agency, or their fleet does." you point out. "They could get it into production locally and make up a cover story depending on how much we need."

"Our people will discuss the particulars with the Rovinar scientist and the Rekesh liaison."

Hopefully they can get that underway quickly.

>>3622556
>One thing I'd like to ask Uller and the other caretaker representative - how did the caretakers collect these Leviathans?
Uller is hopeful that Veod will be able to learn more about this from the locals. You mentioned to him that the other Caretaker planned to make a trip to the east and west gates to examine the facilities there. You may be able to find clues.

>Even if the Krath brought some with them when the Factions moved to this region, the time frame is all wrong. Their arrival would fall into the Neeran caretaker era and this whole facility doesn't seem that new. There are also no Neeran caretakers here and it seems like they never were.
They would have to be from this universe in that case.

With the meeting finishing up and everyone preparing to leave the cargo bay lighting switches to an elevated alert status. You immediately have your com out.

"This is Reynard, tell me why we're on alert."
"The planetary shields just went up sir. One moment please."

You give them a few seconds and the officer eventually gets back to you.
"Enemy raiders are in system. They're launching a missile barrage from beyond effective range of the orbital defenses. The Outer Heaven is hailing us."

"Put it through."

Tes'us is requesting orders. Do you want them to stay near the orbital platforms and help with point defense or sortie and attempt to engage them?

[ ] Stay near the orbital platforms
[ ] Engage them

>>3622763

Considering the importance of this world to the Krath in keeping their secrets secret. Ask the ambassador to contact his fleet to have them do what they do best. (Krath go in and rip out the heart of this raider fleet. While ours keeps the fleets attention and pounds them into dust.)

Also, what is the current status of defenses of this world? Can we instruct the Rekesh to keep their stations alert and prevent any enemy or unknown forces from getting close to the platforms/ the planet?

If we can leave the Rekesh to protecting their world. And have them stop any would be infiltrators or saboteurs from entering atmosphere or damaging the platforms that should be enough for defenses. Our fleet would be best to providing a menacing enough force that the raiders will soon find that engaging this world is not worth their effort.

>>3622763

[x] Stay near the orbital platforms

Outer Heaven is a fast ship, but iirc it has no supporting squadrons.

So long as OH remains within support distance of the orbital platforms, they can support each other against any raiders that attempt to jump in and conduct boarding actions. And our heavily armed guard will likely give them a terrible shock.

If OH advances, both OH and the platforms are exposed to additional raiders jumping in on one of the exposed targets.

Let the Krath give the raiders a nasty surprise.

Hoping to resume in the late afternoon tomorrow. Depends on how the morning goes.

>>3622763
>[ ] Stay near the orbital platforms

They're probably Ulgean freelancers trying to draw us off so they can make a strike on the planet.

>>3622763
>[x] Stay near the orbital platforms
We have more experienced PD crews and likely better PD guns as well.

>>3622691
Now that we know their "dark" secret, can we actually visit their home worlds?

>>3623771
Homeworld California

Here in body but not in mind. God I hate hot weather. I'll post later tonight when my head is not so fucked up.

>>3624498
Just make sure you're okay, TSTG.

>>3616019
>I hope this is important Viscount, the Rovinar fleet is busy fighting Ulgean privateers masquerading as Neeran holdouts.
Can we ask our House to send Knight Captain Kal'yas Aurlum and a small unit as an advisor to the Rekesh? Garrison and anti raider duty is his area of expertise and I'm sure it will look good on his resume.

"Keep the Outer Heaven near the platforms. I dont know what their point defense is like but it cant be great."

"Understood. We'll bolster their defense as much as we can."

You look to the ambassadors.
"I dont suppose any of your cloaked ships could attempt to ambush the attackers? They'll just flee if they detect any real opposition approaching."

Arrangements are made for a pair of Krath ships to attempt an intercept. The attacking vessel is identified as a less frequently seen type of medium carrier, though the fighter bay seem to have been replaced with missile batteries. As all of you quickly find out they're firing antimatter missiles. High yield ones.

Outside the planetary shields darken to block more of the radiation being released by the weapons detonation. Point defense is hitting them though it's a bit close at times. Once it's realised how powerful the incoming warheads are the remaining AM platforms launch their own missiles in response, using smaller payloads in the hops of increasing the chance of interception.

Ships from your escort quickly begin use whatever interceptor missile stores they have. Kept in case you'd run into anyone using SP weapons.

Predictably the enemy vessel launches a final volley then jumps to FTL. Undoubtedly moving on to hit a less well defended target. The Krath ships weren't able to get into position in time. One of them will attempt to follow it in the hopes of locating other enemy units.

You shrug.
"I suppose that's better than getting a simple kill. By the way, since I already am going to be signing a non disclosure agreement is there any chance of seeing the Krath homeworlds?"

"No." Replies the ambassador. "The atmosphere is too inhospitable. We have a small number of terraformed worlds suitable for faction species to live on for diplomatic envoys. They also serve as training grounds for our people to learn to socialize with your kind. Those are the only worlds you would be able to visit."

>Cont.

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Checking in with fleet intelligence you see that everyone has been busy. So have the Ulgean. They managed to secure the second super heavy yard in a follow up attack. The Alliance had considered going after it but there were too many Ulgean vessel laying siege to do so without causing an incident.

The Alliance fleet is recently finished capturing the fleet base in the north west and have secured a number of surrounding systems. Most of these bases were thoroughly cleaned out by the Neeran in their evacuation. They took nearly everything with them when possible, weapons, supplies, manufacturing. The stations are still a good starting point for replacing manufacturing through.

Most Neeran forces are gone, with the exception being various raider groups that are almost certainly working for the Ulgean. Like the medium cruiser that just attacked here they're trying to stir up trouble. Possibly in the hopes of allowing the Ulgean fleet to stage an intervention to secure more territory.
Both sides are quickly establishing a string of listening posts with the intention of them acting as de facto border markers.

Some systems are not yet under Alliance control but those most in danger of being taken by your rivals for the region are now secure. Some have declared independence which will complicate matters but the diplomats are getting to work on it.

Ren has received an offer to become the commander of the southern rebel government's fleet. He's checking in with you first to make sure this wouldn't conflict with your mercenary contract. Either way he could make certain arrangements to ensure it's worth your while. Such as preferential industrial contracts for your companies.

[ ] Release from contract
[ ] Keep him on contract
[ ] Keep on contract but allow him to serve as southern Admiral

>>3626935
>[ ] Release from contract

>>3626935
[x] Renegotiate at a lower rate and allow to him to serve as Southern Admiral.

>>3626935
>[ ] Release from contract

Doing it as a favor for the South Rebels.

>>3626935
>[ ] Release from contract
He will still be here and fighting and providing garrison and the favor he brings us will be worth more in the long term.

You decide it would be best to release Ren from the contract. He's fulfilled his obligations terrorizing the region while it was under Neeran control. You also got a cut of his salvage, though that was mostly in the form of a couple medium cruisers. Both of which were provided to the Rekesh under lend lease.

Speaking of which, their military is finally starting to field warships beyond those their rebellion had. They're certainly needed. One of their heavy cruisers was damaged while securing one of the more stubborn worlds and will be under repair for some time.

According to Ni Ahni the government is also looking at a possible tech deal with one of the other former Neeran states in the cluster. Their version of phased plasma cannon isn't as compact as the Neeran verson but it does have some advantages making it slightly easier to modify. In time its hoped that several of the former client states will be able to field a competitive warship of their own that is nearly as easy to manufacture as common corvettes.

The Keeper and the Rekesh government are brought up to date on the latest developments, giving approval to potential Krath and Rovinar involvement if it will save Rekesh lives. They're adamant that neither party be allowed to take builder artifacts without Rekesh consent. Even the tech developed from the findings they'll be allowed will be kept to the bare minimum.

With the revelation of the Blight Scales presence and Krath offer to remove them the government orders the army to enact more strict quarantine protocols. Checkpoints are set up in the surrounding region along with medical screening and sensor posts. They're not taking any chances with a potential escape if the Krath are going to be removing them from the interior.

When the Krath medium cruiser arrives in orbit it decloaks briefly before being cleared to send shuttles and landing craft to the surface. The PDF designate a parking orbit for it and make sure traffic is routed around the area. Rob is left to plan out how the J-D, Krath and Rekesh personnel will transport what they need into and out of the interior. Some temporary base structures here will need to be built along with additional screening facilities.

"Have fun, I have a meeting I'm going to be late for if I stay." you tell him before heading inside.

A cargo skif run later and you're boarding the shuttle to go see the wizard again. This time you have the option of bringing the entire scout team plus the Krath government's tag-along. Introduced as Sirocco, this one has taken on the appearance of a tough looking Kavarian. From his wary expression you can tell he knows who the other Krath members of your team are.

Are you bringing either of the scientists Akyarres or Ten Zohn along on this trip?

>>3627415

>Are you bringing either of the scientists Akyarres or Ten Zohn along on this trip?

Sure, bring both. Also, has it been made clear to said Wizard that we are going to be bringing said Krath representative? His grand daughter wants the proto-Krath dead or gone. So might be worth making sure that those we are meeting know not to attack him on sight. Since they are apparently some level of psychics like our Light amd Caretaker Neeran.

>>3627522
>has it been made clear to said Wizard that we are going to be bringing said Krath representative?
I dont believe it was but they can wait on the shuttle while that is cleared up.

>>3627415

>Are you bringing either of the scientists Akyarres or Ten Zohn along on this trip?

I'm okay with bringing Ten Zohn. Fuck Akyarres though, he doesn't really deserve to see the dope wizard tower in my opinion. The Foundation has acquired enough data in my opinion.

>>3627640

>in my opinion
>in my opinion


I am shame.

>>3627640
>>3627415
Don't we have a secrets sharing agreement with the Rekesh? So we are obligated to bring Ten Zohn.

I say we bring Akyrres but don't tell him about their psychic abilities, and that we tell them ahead of time he's a sketchbag and see if they can get anything out of him.

Also that we have a bomb somewhere on his personage when he's with us.

It might sound like I don't trust him, but that's just because I don't.

I've only got 1 quick appointment in the morning. Hoping I'll have my shit together tomorrow.

>>3627415
Let's bring both. Akyarres has made himself useful, and I'm sure he'll enjoy talking to the locals in charge.

>The atmosphere is too inhospitable
It must be pretty extreme if that's the case. We were even able to visit that watcher world that was close to zero kelvin.

Both will be brought along but Akyarres will wait behind with the Krath at first.

During the flight you look over recordings taken from the north pole. It's more akin to a burned out hellscape. Everything as far as the eye can see is dead, plants, trees, not a scrap of green anywhere.

The only exception are the blight scales. From the air clusters of them look like sulfur stains. They're largely gathered around parts of the enormous serpentine skeletons that are draped across the landscape in places. Towards what the shuttle could tell was another gate location many more of leviathan corpses are gathered, overlapping in a pile of the deceased.

Detailed scans also picked up the remains of Rekesh. Skeletons, suits of armor and weapons, vehicles that had been tore in half. Much of it has been disturbed by blight scales picking over the remains.

Ten Zohn is curious about possibly recovering some of the vehicles or weapons until seeing the atmospheric readouts. Even Rekesh would be hard pressed to survive the local environment for more than a few hours. Those neutralizing agents are going to be needed.

"How did they mange this?" asks Sirocco. "There is no physical damage a Leviathan wouldn't be able to shrug off with ease."

"You can ask when you meet them." you reply.

Approaching the landing pad for the southern tower the shuttle sets down and the team disembarks. Before going too far you meet with Lady Af Ied and tell her that you've brought a representative of the Krath Union. Also how they've confirmed the blight scales are their ancestors.

It's clear the Lady considers talks with anything related to the blight scales to be distasteful but agrees her grandfather will probably wish to talk with them. Once introduced she seems completely astonished by the appearance of your Krath team members.

"I did not think it possible." she says, walking around them while still keeping her distance. "Are you really like them? The scales? You dont poison the air around you like they do."

"That is a choice. They are like feral children who dont know any better. Or worse I imagine."

The Lady snaps herself out of her prolonged inspection of Sirocco's Kavarian appearance.
"Yes, my Grandfather should be ready soon. This way please."

As predicted you dont have to wait long. In the meeting hall the old Rekesh hobbles in followed by Veod and a couple of bodyguards.
"I see you have returned with a large collection of people this time. Quite the assembly, though I wish you hadn't felt the need to crowd my halls with so many soldierly types."

After a round of introductions he waves you and Sirocco forward.
"I trust you've returned to inform me you've made progress with our little problem? Or found someone who can?"

"The Krath Union has agreed to aid in the removal of all our distant kin from this world." replies Sirocco.
"We are still in the early stages of bringing in teams to assess the numbers required and how best to get them under control."

"Logistical details I do not care to hear about. I just want them gone and no longer our problem."
States the old wizard.

"We've made an agreement as our people will follow through with it."
"Good! Granddaughter, see to it arrangements are made that these... people are not attacked in their efforts to get rid of the blight scales. You can change your appearance yes? Try to stick to one species to avoid confusing the peasants. They are not as well educated as I should like."

Sirocco promises to pass this on.

Tereoct turns to you.
"Now, you promised to find help to rid me of the blight scale problem, even if you could do it yourself. It's fortunate that it will take time for them to finish their work as it could take me an age to provide whatever outlandish reward it is you intend to ask me for.
So what is it?"

>What do you want?
Or will you hold off on giving a response until your combined teams have had a chance to look at other parts of the facility?

>>3628786
Do they print a catalogue? I'm not really sure what to ask for.

>>3628786
The obvious thing to ask for here is how to make the Matter Siphons and Builder Manufacturing Systems that are present both here and on the Sphere itself. If we can adapt those to large scale construction we should be able to mass produce hard enough to make even the Kavarians blush.

But for now I say we hold off on asking about anything until such a time that we've managed to go through the other facilities on the planet. Hopefully there is one we can take for ourselves and nab any knowledge, info and data from. Then we can use the Rekesh wizard to complement that information with anything we've missed.

>>What do you want?
"Knowledge about all Builder tech and how to replicate it for ourselves?"

>>3628786
I think it may be best to hold off on a response until we've had a chance to explore more of this facility.

As the only things I’ve seen from here that the Dominion could use. That would get the Dominion in trouble. Is the ability to make gates into these subspace pockets. Or even those things outside the tower that grab material outside the subspace pocket, from the planet itself. And convert it into matter that is used in constructing whatever this tower needs. Maybe if they have means or data on how to construct large starships. Similar to how the Kavarian Union has the know how on how to make such large structural supports for huge ships like the solar harvester and what not. If we could maybe find out how they do that. And maybe apply it to all around ship structural engineering. Maybe we could make our own vessels more resistant to stresses of such structural engineering. Or even a data on how to make a sphere tech factory. That is able to rapidly build faction tech. That would be great for improving production output of certain items from small arms to tanks and power armor.

But I really want to know if we can get data on those things outside the structure. So we can reach through subspace. And grab material elsewhere. And convert it into something useable. This would benefit a lot of different fields. Since we’d open up a lot of resource options. Like the idea from Infinity War, where they use a Neutron Star to make a super powerful metal and create Thors new hammer. Only use that to make super strong alloys for near indestructible, whatever we make from it.

>>3628821
>Do they print a catalogue?
This earns a laugh from Tereoct.
"Oh no, that might just give you too many good ideas."

>>3628839
"What about knowledge about all Builder tech and how to replicate it for ourselves?"
"Now that is simply excessive. I might be convinced to give you information on how to construct some of the technology. I presume the structural material would most interest you."
He bangs his staff against the floor.
"I could also be rather mean and fail to mention certain things about that information."

"Which I could spoil." adds Veod.

"Go ahead, I was merely having fun with the young ones."

The Caretaker turns to you.
"To manufacture builder material you would need certain equipment already made out of it in order to survive the process."

You consider that for a second then recall some of your own crazier project ideas.
"I was thinking about trying to harvest neutronium using gravity well generators. That might result in materials strong enough."

Neither are sure if that would work. They're not stellar physicists.

>>3628786

Hold off.

We'll need to investigate the other potential access points to determine if we can even remove our asked for reward from the subspace pocket.

No sense in asking for a neat subspace matter forge if we can't remove it from this subspace pocket and we have to ship the results back to Dominion/J-D space.

>>3628926
You know what also would be really cool. Getting Sonia Wizard powers.

Jokes aside. Let's make a list of what could interest us.

Data tablet - Artifact manufacture
Data tablet - Matter Siphon System
Data tablet - Manufacturing System
Data tablet - Sphere Material creation
Data tablet - Subspace Gate System
Data tablet - Wizard Powers 101
Data tablet - Subspace Siphon
Data tablet - Ship Construction
Data tablet - Star Forge
Data tablet - Sphere Construction

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"I dont intend to rush into this decision without some serious forethought. The results could have a substantial impact on just about everything. My own career and the politics of this planet would be just the tip of it."

"If that is your decision. I will need more warning in the event of a future meeting. A week should be enough.
Before that I take it all of you had questions?"

Sirocco of course wishes to know how the leviathans were killed. You own conclusion was a subspace weapon, veckron beam or other nasty stuff.

"If you should happen to find yourself in this particular layer of subspace dont open a "window" so to speak."

"Why, vacuum?"
"Far worse. And that goes for setting foot on the exterior surface of the planet body too. Don't do it."

"Is there a particular reason wise one?" asks Ten Zohn.

"Have you heard of creatures that live inside of gravity wells?"

>What say?

>>3629092

"I'm getting too old for this shit" comes to mind.

I'm sure the Krath would agree.

>>3629092
"Please don't tell me there is a realm within subspace full of horribly abomination and Eldritch creatures of suck complexity that merely looking upon them would cause us to go insane. And that you then proceeded to unleash them upon the Leviathans. Going into space will never be the same if that is the case."

"I'm getting too old for this shit." you mutter before raising your voice.
"Please, don't tell me there is a realm within subspace full of horrible abominations and Eldritch creatures you cant even look at. I've spent most of my adult life working in space and a good chunk of that using FTL. It's not going to be the same if that's the case."

One of the immortals speaks up.
"Actually sir I've heard rumors, mostly old wives tales, that the reason ships disappear when they hit a gravity well at FTL without reverting is because monsters living in the well eat the ship. Or something. There was talk going around about putting our unit through various experiments after we got those special shots. One of the thrown out suggestions was to test that theory."

You bury your face in your heads.
"Okay, okay, alright. Stop. I dont want to hear more insanity. Insanity like that you knowingly proceeded to unleash things like this upon the Leviathans." you look up at the old man.

"Absolutely not. I would do no such thing." answers Tereoct.

Thank goodness.

"My grandfather however was far more desperate, and more pressed for time. So he did take such a gamble."
"Oh for fucks sake."
"It worked, mostly. My father and I had time to figure out what he had done and reverse it. They were not fully in phase with our reality which kept them near the gate, bleeding radiation into anything near them. Or that is the conclusion I've drawn. My father later took volunteers to shut it down despite the risks."

You look to the Caretakers.
"Please tell me this is made up?"

"There are subspace entities kept in special holding areas in the sphere." Uller tells you. "I know very little about them. It's not impossible."

[ ] I'm forgetting we had this conversation, what were we talking about?
[ ] I choose not to believe you
[ ] Can I avoid ever setting foot on a planet again? I guess the kids need to move
[ ] Fuck it, we're perfectly safe in real space

>>3629303

>[ ] I'm forgetting we had this conversation, what were we talking about?

We were on the topic of loot right? And removing the Proto-Krath from this place and exploring this facility without breaking anything or endangering our operations, right?

>>3629303
>[ ] Fuck it, we're perfectly safe in real space
>Try not to think about someone attempting to use FTL near a planet in an area damaged by veckron torpedoes

>>3628926
How about information on other Builder facilities as a start? That is what the caretaker detachment with us wanted. We could even try and form an exploration partnership with them if there's any more.

>>3629303
[x] we're perfectly safe.

Ultimately there's probably ways to kill them too.

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>>3629303
Oh god please no. Stop it. Lovecraft was right. Abandon all hope.

[ ] Minor existential crisis
[ ] Panic
[ ] Find desk
[ ] Facedesk
[ ] Sudden realization about what could happen if subspace is damaged to much by Veckron Weaponry.
[ ] Realization that if you caught one you could probably use it for a long of cool stuff.
[ ] Desire for a pet demon, rising.

[ ] I'm forgetting we had this conversation, what were we talking about?

>>3629303
>[ ] Can I avoid ever setting foot on a planet again? I guess the kids need to move
>[ ] I'm forgetting we had this conversation, what were we talking about?

NA NA NA NA NA CAN'T HEAR YOU

>>3629303
"Is this why the Neeran live in city-ships?"

>>3628786
>What do you want?
Additionally, maybe something to complement out SP weapons program?

>>3629303
> Here's some data on our shields. Got anything that can pierce them?

> Our Grav generators currently aren't able to start up or shut down quickly, got any ways to speed that up?

I always wondered why we didn't have subspaxe torpedeos that would drop out of subspace inside larger ships, do they have any tech that could make that possible?

What about life extension tech? Not even immortality, maybe just a hundred extra years to really fulfill things for Sonia?

"I'm forgetting we had this conversation, what were we talking about?"

Veod helpfully points out that there was talk of visiting the east hemisphere gate that was destroyed by Threocht in the hopes of finding clues. A similar visit to the western gate should also be scheduled, though with far more caution. The systems there are untouched and could contain similar threats. Af Ied promises to assign you an escort to assist.

"No, you'll go yourself." says Tereoct.
"Grandfather I have too many duties here. I can't afford to be away."
"Then it is past time your cousins or others learn to cope should you be unavailable in an emergency. Make arrangements to delegate responsibilities. Go."

With his granddaughter occupied the old wizard asks about the state of politics in the outside world. Tu Quedis fills him on on the situation of Rekesh space and your party the general state of the war overall.

"You are lucky you didn't lead them here with your search. These Ulgean, are you certain they wont attack if they learn of the secrets buried here?"

"If they did it would risk an all out war with the Factions Alliance." You answer.
"We have enough troops and defenses to put up a real fight, and reinforcements nearby that should be able to reach us in only a few hours."

"By the sound of things the defenses could crumble in less than that time. Would your Factions really risk war to defend one world?"

"They won't have a choice." says Sirocco. "The Krath will defend this world tooth and nail as long as our people are here. The Dominion Emperor is also unlikely to give up control while there a chance of acquiring the treasures here."

Not far off the mark on that.

>Any changes to this schedule?

>>3629654
>Any changes to this schedule?
None. Seems like a good plan. Should see about getting another shuttle or two up and running on this side of the gate however. That way we can have other units searching for Builder facilities while we head off the main search with the Wizards.

Also see if we can use our sensor if we avoid looking at the Core with it?

>The Dominion Emperor is also unlikely to give up control while there a chance of acquiring the treasures here

"I can confirm the Dominion will not let this place fall easily. We likewise have reinforcement on it's way to help secure this galaxy. Straight from the Emperor at that."

>>3629654
>>Any changes to this schedule?

Not really, not unless something pressing needs us to take a look into it?

>>3629685
>"I can confirm the Dominion will not let this place fall easily.
Yes

>We likewise have reinforcement on it's way to help secure this galaxy. Straight from the Emperor at that."
No

>>3629654
>>Any changes to this schedule?
Can't think of anything. Maybe it's worth having them ready some defense teams if, god forbid, the Ullgean break through?

>>3629609
They're actually being worked on by the Factions as a FTL sustainer system was suggested earlier on in the quest. The problem is that they're expensive, really difficult to get working right, and even harder to use. Especially when the target is changing course even the slightest bit.

>>3629630
>What about life extension tech? Not even immortality, maybe just a hundred extra years to really fulfill things for Sonia?

Tereoct explains that he has done some research into this. Unsurprising given his age. Repairs at the cellular level using nanites can be efective for quite some time. Eventually he settled on fortification using the admittedly somewhat unstable material that makes up amplifier artifacts. It is not a permanant solution. Additional doses are eventually required.

You hear the so called "immortal" in your team curse.
"That's the same stuff used in Veckron torpedoes right? So I'm not really immortal?"

"Without a followup treatment you may have 150 years or longer before you begin to suffer deleterious effects. Various other factors may also have an influence, such as natural life span for your species. Of course I recommend a treatment every 80 years."

"I don't mean to be rude but if you know all this why are you in such rough shape?" you question.

"I have learned certain things the hard way. Also perhaps not remaining as physically active as I should have."

It seems he's has taken things a step farther than the injections, using a regeneration artifact operating at an extremely low level built into his armor.

"That is an extremely bad idea." cautions Veod. Uller is quick to agree.

"Bah! I know the limits of what it can do and the limits of my own body. It will do the job good enough for just long enough."

>>3629734
>Immortal's comments

Did they not get told it would only extend their lives?

Though I wonder if that means Saputo is hoarding his injectors to keep himself kicking along for as close to forever as a Dominion noble can.

>>3629791
>Did they not get told it would only extend their lives?
To some extent but only briefly. The medics were probably more concerned with making sure people knew the downsides and risks.

>I wonder if that means Saputo is hoarding his injectors to keep himself kicking along for as close to forever as a Dominion noble can.
Probably.

>>3629734
Does an Artifact life extension injection give them the energy resistance powers too or is that specific to the Faction version?

>>3629854
It's the same material, same properties. The only thing the faction one did is add certain drugs to make it bind more easily to humans.


I have to go into work for 1 fucking hour because nobody there knows how to write a schedule. Fortunately it's law that they have to pay me for 3 hours minimum.

>>3629873
Shit during your work hour.

Soak them for whatever you can.

While you confirm the Dominion will not let this place fall easily, it maybe still be worth having them ready some defense teams for a worst case scenario. An Tain will help to coordinate with the outpost.

Due to delays finding people to cover for her it's nearly a day before Lady Af Ied is ready to depart. It provides a few of your people the chance to spar with the local defenders. Also for you to check out the guest rooms. Not bad overall.

Late the next morning the shuttle is loaded up and heads out to the east gate. Due to the potential risk of blight scales being present everyone is required to seal their suits as the shuttle begins its approach.

"You dont have a transit system that could just send you anywhere around the interior?" you ask Af Ied.

"If there is I would not tell you. There is too much we dont know about your kind, and your Emperor could later decide to take this place from us if we are not cooperative enough. It is the way things work with great empires."

"I hope things dont turn out that way."

From the air the eastern gate is more visible than the entrance your own people are using. A ring a kilometer across is held a couple hundred meters up in the air by four sharp pointed towers. In the middle of the clearing created by the ring sits a squat cylindrical structure. Your guide confirms that is the control center for this gate.

There are plenty of signs of battle. Craters pock mark the surrounding landscape, though much of is is starting to be covered by growth. In a few areas only rock is visible, or the tell tale dead plants you're beginning to associate with the presence of blight scales. A few others present confirm that there must be some nearby.

"They're far enough away from the control center that we should be able to ignore them." says Risto.

Valeri points out that the shuttle does have some weapons. Enough to drive them off or take a more permanent approach.

You look to Sirocco.
"Do you want to call in a team?"

The Krath looks to Jan and Risto.
"With three of us it may be possible to get them under control. This is not an ideal environment and we're still setting up a facility near the entrance. You also only have the one shuttle. I would prefer you not kill them but if it's necessary to drive them off or prevent an attack we would see it as a legitimate defensive action."

[ ] Post guards but otherwise ignore them
[ ] Drive them off with gunfire
[ ] Take them out to protect the ground team
[ ] "You three go deal with them."
[ ] It's too dangerous for our science teams, pull back to base and send in a Krath unit.

>>3630461

>[ ] Post guards but otherwise ignore them

Have the shuttle on stand-by in case the Proto-Krath somehow are drawn to here, while we study this structure. Maybe have Jan Risto and Sirocco go out and scout their numbers. To get an idea for the numbers here? Maybe even have them start the process of getting these creatures to some level of sentience? If that's even possible or at least have them do their Krath thing and convince the native Blightscales to relocate further away to somewhere safer?